Subject 13: Mars
by Bluebottlejr - The Mad God
Summary: In an unknown location in Gamindustri the creation of a god takes place; this is Project Mars. When the project is destroyed from within the last surviving test subject is left alone to do as he please. Will he adapt to the world around him? What if his past comes back to haunt him? And what happens when he crosses paths with a tsundere CPU Candidate? Arc 1: The Gods of War.
1. Prologue

**Hyperdimension Neptunia**

 **Subject 13: Mars**

 **Prologue**

* * *

 **A/N: Hello readers, some of you who have been reading 'The Rising Darkness' would probably be saying "Why are you doing another story at the same time?", well, this story was created over a month back when I wasn't feeling too confident about 'The Rising Darkness' but since that seems to be going alright at the moment – plus I'm giving it some time until I gather some more ideas for the next few chapters – so I decided to share this fanfic with everyone. This doesn't have any ties with my other work since it is set in another Hyperdimension.**

 **My characters are my own and I do not own rights to any character that has been created by the minds in Idea Factory and Complie Heart. Sorry in advance for people who don't take well to blood and gore, I intend for this story to contain them.**

* * *

Gamindustri, a land filled with magic, monsters and girls that transform into busty ladies in skin-tight swimsuits whilst holding dangerous and sharp futuristic weapons, well some of them are not very busty when they transform, but never tell them that to their faces – these are the goddesses. There are eight goddesses and out of them there are four main goddesses who rule over the nations of Gamindustri. These are:

Planeptune, the Land of Purple Progress, ruled by Purple Heart or Neptune,

Lastation, the Land of Black Regality, ruled by Black Heart or Noire,

Leanbox, the Land of Green Pastures, ruled by Green Heart or Vert,

Lowee, the Land of White Serenity, ruled by White Heart or Blanc.

These nation, along with their goddesses, stand side-by-side in peace to protect the land from any danger that dare to show itself. Events seem peaceful enough, but there is always something lurking in the dark places of the world, there is always something waiting to show itself and strike a deadly blow against the goddesses, there is always something that these villains seek above all else: power. Whether it is rogue organisations or a mad god or goddess there is always something that threatens the peace of Gamindustri.

In this case there was something that was brewing that could very well topple the very foundations of society. What if there was something that could defeat the goddesses? What if there was something that could even make the villains quake in fear? What if a god emerged from horrible and painful experimentation to wreck havoc upon the world?

* * *

"Are you sure it will work this time?" asked a buttoned up white coated scientist, apart from the white lab coat he also had light brown pants, white shoes and short orange hair. He was talking to an older man who had white hair with a very shirt ponytail at the back of his head, brown eyes and a small white beard, he wore a white lab coat that wasn't buttoned up which showed his dark blue collared shirt with a pocket over the right breast, black pants with a leather belt and dark brown boots. He looked rather old yet he also looked quite fit, far fitter than he should be at his age.

"Maybe, I cannot be a hundred percent sure you know," replied the oldish man. "We've done the same thing over and over again for the last few months and all we get are bad results."

"When you mean bad results do you mean when the subjects inexplicably explode, die of blood loss or have several organs destroyed before death or do you mean that we are using up our last supply of these strange crystals on the various subjects that we have?"

"Both of them I suppose. Speaking of those crystals we're starting to run out again."

"Already? Sir, you do realise how rare those things are, right? It took us ages to find even one around Lastation, not to mention it took nearly two weeks for one of the teams to find one in Planeptune."

"Of course I know how rare those bloody things are, but we need more if this experiment is to succeed. Send Team 3 to Lowee while Team 4 heads for Leanbox, tell them they have a week to find any more of those crystals and if they fail to find even one then they'll have no rations for three days."

The scientist nodded before leaving the room. The room was made of concrete walls and a concrete floor, the room was fairly large and there were several desks with people working on computers and machines, these were all spread out across the entire room. There was a large screen panel in front of the oldish man that had various different screens from across the facility, it showed all of the different locations in the facility from the lunch area to the living room and even the hallways outside everyone's bedrooms, but several screens showed a more darker scene to life in the facility. These screens showed a small group of people in concrete cells with steel bars where the windows and doors should be, the cells were not fairly large but were big enough to contain a bed, small desk and an area which was blocked off from camera view that had a small concrete wall surrounding what appeared to be a very small bathroom. There were twenty cells in total and only five were occupied, the first eleven appeared to have been occupied but the small splatters of blood in cells four, five, eight and eleven gave an impression of what happened.

Cells twelve to sixteen were occupied by young to old teenagers, all of them were wearing the same outfit: orange overalls and black boots. They all looked miserable but the young man in cell thirteen looked more than miserable, in fact he looked incredibly pissed off and repeatedly glared at the security camera that was installed near his cell. From his viewing room the oldish man, who incidentally was in charge of the whole experiment, looked at the young angry man through his security camera and sighed, the young man was the one who caused the most resistance against the scientists and the guards who patrolled the entire facility, this had caused some… personal one-on-one time between the two of them, a few guards and a set of equipment that would look at home in Iris Heart's torture chamber. After the young man – who was mockingly called 'Subject 13' – spent day after day in a torture room being tortured by whips, electric rods and other sorts of sharp, pointy and deadly objects that caused utter pain, he had become even more violent towards the guards and scientists that happened to pass by the cells.

Subject 13 carried the scars all across his body and areas of his arms and legs, but it just wasn't physical scars that he carried, it was also mental scars as the young man could no longer remember where he had been born, his home, family or even his name. Subject 13 had light brown hair that was short and covered parts of his ears, forehead and back neck, his eyes were blue and was huddling up on the wall that set up the barrier between cell thirteen and twelve. His hands were clenched and he was snarling at the security camera, as if he knew that the oldish man was looking at him through it and was uttering a challenge

As the oldish man looked away from the screen a woman entered the room, she was wearing what every single scientist wore in the facility: a while lab coat and whatever clothes they had underneath. This woman's lab coat was buttoned up and thus no one could get a good look at what she was wearing but they could see her long black hair and her lab safety shoes. She approached the oldish man and stood next to him as he turned around to get a look at her.

"Ah, I've been waiting for you to turn up," said the oldish man. "Is everything ready for the next two experiments?"

"Yes, Maximilian, everything is ready, but are you sure that it will work this time?" responded the woman.

The oldish man, apparently named Maximilian, shrugged in response. "I cannot tell if it will work, but people always learn from their mistakes, those who fail to do so are complete idiots and don't deserve a place in this world. We'll just have to wait and see if it will work then. Get the guards to escort Subject 12 down to the science lab, then have them wait on standby for Subject 13."

The woman nodded and left the room, the automatic glass sliding door closed behind her as she left, Maximilian returned to looking at the screens and his gaze fell upon the screen that looked at Subject 13 and Subject 12, the two of them looked as if they were trying to converse in conversation from either side of the concrete wall.

* * *

"You alright over there?" Subject 12 asked Subject 13.

"Don't worry about me, keep your worries for yourself," replied Subject 13. "You may be next for experimentation."

"I know that, but you always stand up for everyone who remains and you always get tortured because of it, we have a right to be concerned for you."

"And your concerns warm my heart, but none of us should get too close to each other as I doubt any of us are going to get out of this alive."

"I know, but we should at least have some sort of happiness before the end, don't you agree?"

"I suppose you are right, it's better to die with happiness in your heart than to have bitterness and anger embedded instead. Hey, do you remember your name, age, home and family?"

"Sort of, my name is Jake, I'm around fifteen and my home is somewhere in Leanbox, my family… well, I don't actually have a family, I'm an orphan. In fact, the girl who was in cell eleven was also an orphan, and apparently so was everyone else. I find it suspicious that they were all orphans, and there is a chance that the others who remain alive are also orphans. Anyway, what about who?"

"Thanks to all those days, if not months, of torture I cannot remember my name, my age, where I am from or even my family, I just can't remember anything at all. If only I had my hands around that old man's neck I would get some answers out of him, my first question would be why we're being experimented on."

"The goddesses have truly abandoned us." Jake sounded depressed as he said that, his hope was waning quickly.

"You take your believe in them too seriously, they wouldn't be able to help anyway as it's been months since we were captured and imprisoned here, besides, aren't goddesses supposed to be divine beings who live far away from us humans?"

"Just because you don't believe in the goddesses that doesn't mean that you can just say that to us, we need to believe in something for what strands of hope we have."

"Well not me, I put my faith in no one, and I plan to keep it that way. Anyway, I don't even know who the goddesses are."

Before Jake could respond to the comment the sounds of heavy boots were heard coming down the hallway, then came the sounds of keys and a group of four heavily dressed guards, all of them wearing grey padded armour and helmets that would have been useful in combat, they also carried guns that ranged from the usual rifle to a sub-machine gun and one even had a sniper rifle with a leather strap that could be strapped to the person's back, one also carried a large claymore with him, one of the guards fumbled around with a bunch of different keys and earned the constant groans of his comrades.

"Come on, get on with it," groaned one of the guards.

"You'd have trouble with these damn keys if they all looked the same!" responded the guard with the keys. "Aha! Found it."

"About bloody time."

"Oh shut it you tramp!"

After the door was opened the guards pulled out Jake from the cell and before they began to march him towards the science lab Subject 13 managed to get a good look at him for the first, and possibly, last time. He had blonde hair that covered his back neck and the sides of his head, his entire forehead was covered in a spiky manner. Jake looked at Subject 13 and smiled at him.

"Good luck, in this world or the next," he said before he was escorted ruthlessly down the hallway towards the lab.

Subject 13 looked at the young boy as he quickly disappeared down the hallway, fortunately for the remaining 'subjects' the walls were sounds proof as the lab wasn't far away, and everyone who was sent there from the cells never came back, those who did were dying and the oldish man, Maximilian, was 'kind' enough to allow them to go back to their cells to die near the others. Those who died in their cells would die from blood loss, those who never returned was left to imagination, but Subject 13 could guess that they died horribly.

"Lets hope that Jake dies quickly if whatever they're trying to accomplish fails," mumbled Subject 13 to himself.

* * *

Jake was strapped to a steel table, everything around him looked frightening as there were various tools that looked like it belonged in a butcher's shop hanging around all over the place, there was a large table on his left that was occupied by various different tubes filled with a red liquid, there wasn't much in it but it looked deadly, then as he continued to look around he saw that the test tubes were connected by a single tube with a thin metal needle-like nozzle at the end, the tube hanged down the side of the table. There were little signs of blood around the lab and if he hadn't been strapped down to a table then he would have believed to have been in a science lab from a university that was run by a retired butcher, but unfortunately for the poor Leanboxic citizen that wasn't the case, and he knew it.

The steel door opened and two figures entered, it was the oldish man, Maximilian, and his female assistant, the one with the black hair. Maximilian walked over to Jake whilst putting on rubber gloves, he looked down at the boy and smirked at him.

"Are you ready?" asked Maximilian.

"Are you?" responded Jake.

"That's a better response than what some of the others had come up with before they… departed. And as a matter of fact I am ready for this, I hope that this time I am successful in this experiment."

"And if not?"

"Then you're dead."

"Thought so. Go on then, do it."

"Eager. Good."

Maximilian then walked over to the table with the test tubes and picked up the tube with the needle-like nozzle, made sure it was connected to the test tubes and walked over to Jake. With precise stabbing skills he stabbed the needle-like nozzle into Jake heart, causing the young boy to cry out in pain as tear began to flow from his eyes and blood ran down from the puncture wound, a machine was turned on and the red fluid began to flow down the tubes and into the boy's heart, once it had been absorbed into his heart Jake let out a blood-curling scream and began to shake uncontrollably, not long afterwards blood began to flow quickly out of his mouth and his veins bulged, this continued for several minutes until Jake felt his heart explode and what seemed like gallons of blood poured out of his mouth, nose and a rupture in his chest. He died painfully.

"Bugger," was all Maximilian could say as he stared at the mess before him. "Well, at least it wasn't as bad as Subject 5's death, he had his head explode."

His assistant had trouble trying to not throw up at the comment or the sight before her, death was something that she wasn't used to but her boss, Maximilian, seemed as if it was a normal occurrence for him. He pulled out a radio from his pocket and began to make arrangements for a clean lab, the last of the crystals to be brought over and for the dead body of Jake to be thrown into the incinerator. He then looked over at a guard and grinned at him.

"Time for Subject 13."

* * *

Subject 13 was now strapped to the same table Jake was previously strapped down onto, except it was now clean and there was no sign of the Leanboxic citizen at all, the brown haired boy was quick to realise that his acquaintance was long dead. He looked up to see Maximilian holding a knife and what appeared to be a small red crystal with jagged points on it, it glowed in his left hand as he put it away in one of his lab coat's pockets, he then approached the young lad with the knife in his right hand and prepared to cut into his exposed chest.

"So, where are you going to cut into?" asked Subject 13 calmly. "I guess that you're gonna put that crystal somewhere in my body, but what about that red liquid over there in those test tubes? You going to use that as well aren't you?"

"You're good, it's a pity that you might die because of this," responded Maximilian.

"Well if I live through this ordeal then I swear I'll never stop hunting you until you lie dead before me."

"Yes, yes I hear those threats from you all the time and I still wait for you to find a way to break out of your cell to even attempt such a feat. Now stay still, this is going to hurt… a lot, and there is no anaesthetic."

Suddenly the old man began to cut deep into the left side of Subject 13's chest where his heart would be, the yelling of pain did nothing to deter Maximilian from his goal, finally Maximilian cut through the flesh and bones to see the heart, to which he then cut into and grabbed the red crystal from his pocket, the crystal was placed inside the heart as Subject 13 screamed in agony as he began to slowly die from blood loss. Next, Maximilian turned to the red liquid after he had placed the crystal inside the young man's heart, the liquid was just a liquidised form of the red crystal but the oldish man had never used both the solid and liquid crystal forms together at the same time, better now than never he thought as he jabbed the nozzle into the boy's bloodstream.

The pain that Subject 13 was experiencing was deathly, his time in the torture chamber was nothing compared to what he was experiencing now, he felt as if he was dying, in fact he was dying but he already knew that. But as the red liquid and the red crystal connected he felt a sudden renewal throughout his body, as if he had been reborn anew, but he then blacked out, leaving Maximilian and is assistant rather puzzled at the new turn of events. The oldish man looked down at the young man and saw that the deep cut from the knife was starting to heal quickly as a red mist appeared from the deep and life threatening wound, sealing it completely and the only sign that there was a cut there was a scar. The assistant walked over to a set of machines and check Subject 13's life support: his heartbeat had returned to a normal state and he appeared to be alright.

"We did, we actually did it," muttered Maximilian. "He survived and now he is a god… a god, yes, we've created a god!"

"So what now?" asked the assistant. "What do we do next from here?"

"We take what we learned here today and imply it to the rest of the subjects, by the end of next month we will have an army of gods and goddesses to do our bidding."

"And how do you plan to accomplish that?"

"Erase their memory, then they'll believe anything we tell them. I'm heading back to the main control room, get in contact for the guards to pick this fellow up and get him back to the cells."

The assistant nodded, but as soon as her boss had left the room and closed the steel door behind him she noticed that the young man's eyelids were twitching, driven with curiosity she approached him and looked down at the man, but she wasn't prepared for what was to happen next. Suddenly Subject 13 woke up and opened his eyes quickly for the assistant to see that they had turned blood red and his body began to glow blood red, his straps snapped and his hand grabbed the unfortunate woman by the throat, he stood up and glared straight into her eyes, making her flinch in terror as she tried to breathe.

"Please … spare me … I beg you!" she pleaded.

"And why would I do that?" came the reply. "Everyone working for that man will die by my hand, and you just happen to be the closest one at the moment, so sorry… NOT!"

With utter force he snapped the woman's neck and her head fell back, her tongue falling out of her mouth and her eyes rolled back into her skull. Subject 13 threw the corpse away into a set of machines and opened the steel door, he found himself in a hallway that had two directions: left and right, but as he looked up he noticed a security camera looking at him, with a smug grin he stuck the middle finger of his right hand up at the camera before turning left down the hallway and made his way to uncharted territory.

It wasn't long until the red alert siren was activated across the entire facility and every single guard tuned into their radios to listen to their new orders; "Hunt down Subject 13 and knock him out". It proved harder than they had imagined as a group of unfortunate guards ran into Subject 13 and attempted to reason with him, to no avail as the angry prisoner forced them into hand-to-hand combat and won by grabbing onto their necks and used his new power to burn their heads, turning them into ash headed corpses. One of the guards carried two steel war axes, with a grin the young man took hold of them and continued to walk down the corridor until he arrived outside the armoury, With a smirk he entered to find all sorts of weapons laying around, the armoury was a large concrete room filled with racks full of weapons that could be found throughout Gamindustri, it ranged from spears, swords, automatic rifles and various different types of machine guns, but one weapon took the keen glance of his eye: it was a sniper rifle with a long scope and a leather strap to it, in fact it was the same one that one of the guards had before. Various ammo magazines for the sniper rifle laid around the gun and Subject 13 was quick to grab the rifle, strap it to his back and grab an ammo belt and strap it from his left shoulder to his right waist, he was no prepared to face whatever the facility had in store for him.

"Now, it's time to die, Maximilian!" yelled Subject 13 as he raced out of the armoury and swung his axes at the guards and scientists who were foolish to fight him in close combat, but they had their orders that he was not to be killed.

* * *

As Subject 13 carved a bloody path throughout the facility Maximilian stood in the control room and watched the carnage develop across the entire place, he sighed in disbelief as he knew what would have to happen next. He had a plan in place in case something like this happened.

 _I still want him to live though, he's a good prototype for any future experiment that is to occur, so I guess there is only one way out of this as far I can see. I'll have to call_ him _before I activate my plan._

Maximilian took out a phone from one of his pockets and dialled one of the numbers on the phone, after waiting for a minute the person he was calling picked up and a flamboyant voice could be heard from the other end.

"Why hello there, Maxi, it's been a while hasn't it? Is that the screams of the dying I can hear? Gosh, what are you doing over there if I may ask?" asked the strange voice.

"Just an experiment gone rogue. I finally managed to succeed and now the bastard is slaughtering his way through everyone to find me at any cost," replied Maximilian. "Listen, since the Mars Project seems doomed I want to ask a favour from you: hack into every system in Gamindustri and delete anything that mentions the files I'm going to send you, including any references towards the Mars Project."

"Very well then, just send the files and I'll get to it."

The call ended and Maximilian was quick to get to a computer and send the files that he wanted deleted from any source in Gamindustri, once the files had been sent he noticed that his 'hacker friend' immediately began to delete any evidence of missing people, of the Mars Project and anything regarding them at all.

Now came the next step in his plan: blow the facility up. It was a drastic option but since he didn't care about the people who were working for him he had decided that it was the best course of action, and right now he wouldn't care if Subject 13 was killed in the explosion.

"I'm going for a moment, in fact if everyone wants to live I suggest that you evacuate the facility before it blows up," announced Maximilian as he walked out of the room calmly. The message sank into everybody's minds and they rushed to get out of the facility, leaving most of it empty save for the few remaining guards trying to hold off the rogue experiment.

* * *

"Just die already!" yelled Subject 13 as he fired his sniper rifle at one of the few remaining guards left behind to hold him off. The bullet flew through the guard's brain, splattering it on the wall.

Subject 13 then ducked behind a corner as bullets were fired at him, he saw the bullet holes embedded in the walls along the hallway and he sighed in relief that he wasn't hit. As he prepared to fire another round he heard the guards run off, then there was a loud ticking noise which was then followed by a large explosion that was set off from various points in the facility, causing the walls to fall apart and the roof to give way, a piece of a wall collapsed on Subject 13 and rendered him unconscious.

When the dust had finally settled and everything had calmed down Subject 13 regained consciousness, he felt the collapsed wall still on top of him and with a loud groan he pushed the broken wall off him and stood up as best he could to see what was around him: everything had turned to rubble. The foundations of the facility were still there including some walls and parts of buildings, but as he began to walk towards the cell block he saw that the area that once contained the remaining surviving human subjects was utterly ruined, hardly a trace was left, except for ruined concrete, steel bars and was looked like charred human remains huddled together. Subject 13 stared at the human remains and knew what they had once been: the surviving inmates who hadn't been experimented on.

 _That old man … that old bastard … HE'S GONNA DIE FOR THIS!"_

With a loud growl he looked up at the darkening sky and made a vow which he intended to keep, no matter how long it would take him to do so. "I swear I'll find you, old man, I swear I'll find you and kill you! Just you wait… I'll tear you into pieces!"

He looked back at the corpses of his fellow inmates and felt a tear escape his left eye, he wiped it away with his dusty sleeve and sighed. "I'll honour everyone of you who died here in this facility for some damn experiment, I'll honour you all by giving myself a name that will make me remember you: Mars, that will be my name."

* * *

 **A/N: And that ends the prologue, the ending was kinda rushed but I wanted to end it at some point. Yes, there are some similarities between Brian the Shadow Walker and Subject 13 aka Mars when it comes to looks and even a small similarity in power, it is quite different but just think of them as alternate versions of each other if you want to. Don't worry, I'm still continuing 'The Rising Darkness', this was something that I wanted to share essentially. If you want more then leave a review and I'll see what I can dish up next time.**


	2. Taking all of the S Rank Quests

**Chapter 1: Taking all of the S Rank Quests**

"Hello, sir, how may I help you today?" a woman asked a young man.

The young man was wearing a hooded grey zipped-up jacket, blue jeans, dark brown steel-cap boots and gloves with steel knuckles, a sniper rifle was slung over his back and two steel war axes were strapped to either side of his waist, some of his face was concealed thanks to his hood but the woman could see his unhappy expression and a glaring look from his blue eyes. He looked like a delinquent and meant trouble, but the Lastation Guild was trying to become more friendly towards people and thus the receptionist was forced to act with politeness towards the odd man.

"I want to sign up for a job at the Guild," replied the odd man.

"Very well then, sir. What type of job are you looking at taking?"

"I'll be taking quests and completing them, I have no idea what profession that is but I'll take it."

"Alright then. May I have your name and personal details please? It's for the registration form."

"Fine then. The name is Mars, age unknown, date of birth unknown, that's about all I know."

The woman looked at the young man with a confused expression plastered on her face, she had met strange people before who came in every now and again, but this guy took the cake as the most oddest of all, the only thing he knew about himself was his name. Despite her inner instincts telling her to not question about it she decided to ask him a few questions, maybe one question at least before he got angry.

"Excuse me, sir, if you don't mind me asking but are you just telling me this because you really don't know anything about yourself or are you saying it because you are refusing to give your personal information for the registration form?" she asked.

The young man stared at her in response, refusing to say a single word. She swore she could feel his eyes piercing her very soul and a tinge of blood red appeared in his eyes, she slightly backed away and tried to fix the situation at hand.

"I-It isn't because I find you suspicious or anything, I just gotta fill this form out for you!" she stammered.

Mars sighed and slouched forward, his gaze never leaving the unfortunate woman. "I honestly don't know anything personal about myself to be honest, now lets get this damn form signed and all that so I can get some quests done already."

The woman nodded quickly and began to fill in the registration form, as she did this Mars took a glance around the Lastation Guild for a better look at the place, he found it rather big and open as there weren't many people around. The walls were big with a black and grey colour, there were columns that sprouted from the floor to the ceiling and various boards were attached to them that were filled with all manner of different quests, the boards were more like large computer touch screens where small numbers of people stood by and looked through the available quests. Many people were working in groups and chatted amongst themselves in a happy manner, it made Mars have mixed feelings about it, on one hand he was glad that people could rely on each other and had someone to be happy with, but on the other hand it made him uneasy and sort of sick, he never had anyone to depend on and had no friends or happiness that he could remember.

 _Let them keep whatever happiness that they have. I believe it would be better for them to have happiness instead of feeling pain and misery, for they deserve it more than I do._

It had been over two years since he practically brought Project Mars to its knees and killed almost everyone who worked with it, after he buried his deceased inmates he had sworn to kill the surviving people who worked for the project and while it had taken two years to keep his promise a reality he was nearly done with his task, he had gone after the remaining scientists after careful research into them, despite their records being just about deleted, he had managed to encounter just about all of the remaining survivors and once he did find them he did the only thing he could do: kill them. One unfortunate man had his intestines ripped out of his body before Mars forced it down his throat, either the man bled to death or choked to death. Fortunately the news reporters didn't get wind of it. However there was one man who had escaped his bloody vengeance: Maximilian, the man who created the Mars that walks the plains of Gamindustri. The thought of him still being alive and out there somewhere in Gamindustri was heavy upon Mars' heart, but his thought were distracted by the voice of the receptionist.

"The form has been filled out, all it needs is your signature," she said to him.

Mars nodded and took her pen before signing the registration form, the signature read 'Mars' in bad cursive handwriting. Once done she took the form and returned her gaze at him. "Now that's done, do you want to do a quest before heading out?"

"Sure, why not," responded Mars with a shrug. He honestly wasn't sure why he wanted a job at the Guild but since he hadn't seen a single sign of Maximilian for over a year he had come to the conclusion that he needed to do something to pass the time before he picks up the trail again.

"Very well then, now, which quest would you like to do?" she asked him.

Mars took a look at the screen and looked through all the available quests, he noticed that there were a few S rank quests that were available. Mars guessed, correctly, that S rank was the highest ranking quest available to anyone in the Guild, and since he was a little bit bored he decided to do the unthinkable: accept all of the S rank quests.

"Hmm, how 'bout I take all of the S rank quests," said Mars.

The woman looked shocked at him, she couldn't believe the fact that a complete newbie to the Guild wanted to do all S rank quests that were up for completion, she feared that the young man was way over his head and would die because of it. Plus, whoever heard of someone completing more than one S rank quest in one day?

"Um, are you sure about that, sir?" she asked. "No one has ever tried to do all the S rank quests before so it might be..."

"Just give me the locations of each quest, now," Mars responded in a harsh tone.

The receptionist was quick to respond to his statement and quickly handed Mars a list of the quest locations, there were three S rank quests available and Mars just took them, it sounded crazy to do three S rank quests at the same time but he reasoned to himself that it would be a piece of cake, besides, it just meant that there would be less danger around Lastation once he had completed the quests. Mars took the list and nodded at the receptionist before walking out of the Guild and towards the first location, which was to the east in a small mountain range, apparently there were was an ancient dragon nesting ground there that needed to be wiped out before the ancient dragons could launch an attack on helpless civilians.

"Good, ancient dragons, a challenge," muttered Mars with a sadistic grin.

As he walked down the street, and ignored the obvious stares of people who were concerned about their own safety as they could not only see his weapons but could also sense the grin, the clouds were beginning to settle more densely in the midday sky, obscuring most of the Sun. Mars didn't have an opinion about Lastation, in fact he didn't have much of an opinion about Planeptune, Lowee and Leanbox either. He had spent quite some time in the other nations while hunting down the last few remaining Project Mars scientists but didn't really had a lot of time to enjoy himself, in fact he never had a happy moment in his entire life as far as he could remember, not even the deaths of the rogue scientists made him feel joyous. Why did he decide to join the Lastation Guild instead of the others? It was because of the location of the former Project Mars facility, the ruins of the facility were along the northern border in an obscure location, and since he didn't feel at home in the other nations he came to the conclusion that he should stay in Lastation for a while.

Mars took a glance at the list with the quests on it and noticed the reward he would receive once he completed them: in total the reward would be 8,000 credits, not a bad sum he summarised. He didn't really need the money but he found out over the last two years that it was always best to have money at the ready just in case.

"Well, I better get to it then, those ancient dragons are going down! Then I have to take care of another monster nesting ground to the south and what appears to be some strange attacks to the north, guess I've got my hands full for the day."

He put the list away in his pocket and continued to walk down the street and turned towards the east, a small patch of mountains could be seen on the horizon and somewhere out there was his first quest. He couldn't wait to let out some brutal killing moves upon some unsuspecting monsters for a change.

* * *

It had been quite some time since Mars had set out on his mission to complete all of the three S rank quests and now a certain CPU Candidate was making her way to the Guild, she wore a black dress with white lining, black fingerless glove sleeves, black boots with while lining and a portable device was strapped to her left waist, she had two ribbons in her hair that were tied around two twin tails, her crimson red eyes sparkled as she smiled to herself. Thus Uni, CPU Candidate of Lastation, walked down the street towards the Guild in a happy manner.

"This is it, this is the day that I can outshine Noire by completing all the S rank quests," Uni muttered to herself. "If I can do this then maybe, just maybe, I can prove that I'm more than capable at doing anything!"

The streets were a lot more livelier than they had been a while ago, more people were out shopping for goods, socialising with each other, going out on dates and goodness knows what else. People made way for Uni as a sign of respect, others said "hello" and a few waved in her direction, Uni showed her respect by waving back and replying to every hello with a "hello" "and how are you" despite getting flustered by all the attention. She was well liked by the populace and was extremely popular with gun lovers, Uni would attempt everything with all her burning passion and would not rest until she had completed any task that was given to her, despite that she had a sense of insecurity as she was at times compared to her older sister, who claimed that she could do only everything, and this had caused Uni to gain increasing levels of anxiety and she always felt that she was living under the shadow of Noire, thus she attempted to become better than her. And that wasn't an easy task, especially since her tsundere nature would get the better of her.

Uni believed that by completing all the S rank quests she would finally prove herself to Noire and get her sisters affection and the words "Good job Uni" from her, it seemed like a flawless plan but the CPU Candidate had failed to take one thing into account: what would happen if someone had already taken the quests? She was going to find out as soon as she walked into the Guild and look at the available quests.

Once Uni had entered the Guild she noticed a depressed woman standing behind a reception desk, the Candidate walked over to her and noticed that the woman was shaking her head and mumbling to herself. It sounded like she was saying "I'm such an idiot, I should have stopped him." With a bit of concern in her mind Uni approached the woman and tapped her shoulder.

"Excuse me, but you're mumbling to yourself," said Uni. "Is there anything wrong?"

The woman looked at Uni in surprise. "Huh? Oh, greetings Miss Uni, is there something that you wanted?"

"Well I'm here to do a few quests but you look like a wreak, did something happen?"

"Sort of, some new guy just signed up to become a member of the Guild and immediately took all of the S rank quests, I wasn't able to change his mind."

Uni was shocked that some newbie had just taken all of the S rank quests for himself, she was quite understandably ticked off at whoever the person was. "Who is this guy? I have to have a few 'words' with this person when I find him."

"Why is that? Oh, were you going to do an S rank quest as well?"

Uni nodded in response. "Who was this guy? Can you give me a name and whatever he looks like just tell me."

"Alright then, I fear for his safety so it would be good for a CPU Candidate to go and help him. His name is Mars and he has blue eyes, wears a grey hooded jacket, blue jeans, dark brown boots, has a sniper rifle slung over his back and two axes strapped to his waist, he seems like a delinquent and is rather harsh in tone."

"Huh, sounds like a strange individual. He must be an idiot if he believes he can survive three S rank quests all by himself. By the way, what were the quests?"

The receptionist handed Uni a list of the S rank quests that Mars was undertaking, and it surprised Uni so much that she gasped in shock. Mars was going to go up against a hoard of ancient dragons and goodness knows what from the south and north. It was clear to Uni that the young man was going to get himself killed out there, suddenly a thought occurred to the CPU Candidate.

 _If I went out there and saved him that would give me some publicity and raise Lastation's shares as I would have saved a citizen, perhaps that would also make Noire appreciate me more as well._

"I guess I can help him if need be," said Uni in her tsundere way. "I'll get going now, er, good luck, I guess."

The receptionist nodded in response and Uni left the Guild and walked down the street, asking people if they had seen a grey jacket wearing delinquent with a sniper rifle around the place, but it seemed that not a lot of them had seen him, those that had seen him weren't helpful as they didn't pay much attention to where he was heading.

"Urgh, this is getting frustrating," grumbled Uni. "But I can't ask for help, I have to do this on my own and prove my worth. I guess I'll just have to look around even harder and see if I can spot him anywhere."

As Uni turned down a street she thought she saw someone who fitted the description perfectly, but when she looked again the person was gone, as swift as the wind itself. With her patience starting to run thin she decided that it would be best to start looking at the quest locations, and if he wasn't there then she would clear the area and gain the reward. The closest location was the ancient dragon den to the east, that could be a good chance to bump into Mars and 'convince' the newbie to giver her the quests instead.

"Alright then, I'm heading east!"

* * *

The track up through the mountain range was largely uneventful at best, there was hardly any lifeforms running around and everything was quite, almost too quiet for the young man who was walking on the dirt path up the mountain range. The day had grown darker due to the clouds and it looked like it would rain at some point during the mid or late afternoon, but that didn't concern him at all, what did concern him was whether he would be able to kill the ancient dragons before the end sunset. All around him the light brown mountains, which were not that big at all, stood high and mighty, their shadows cast the ground in darkness. Mars wasn't sure where the ancient dragons would be, could they be in a cave or perhaps out in the open somewhere? He had no clues and his boredom was starting to rise.

 _This is getting ridicules, I could have past them for all I know, perhaps they're already been cleared out by someone else or something? Bah, who knows and who cares, I've got to get my skills up. Huh, there's a cave up ahead._

As he continued to walk along the path he spotted a cave and saw various burn and claw marks all around the edges of the cave, it was clear who lived down there: ancient dragons. Mars quickly turned towards the cave and entered it without a second thought or delay. The cave stretched far into the bowls of the mountain range, the path was covered in flat, curved and spiky stones, as Mars walked through the cave passage he noticed that it began to get darker and more darker until he was forced to pull out a flare and activate it, he continued to walk down the passage until he arrived in an area that was lighted by whatever sunlight could pass through the clouds, there he found what he was looking for: three sleeping ancient dragons. He was fortunate to find them asleep as he threw the flare away.

"Well, I found the bastards, now to kill them," Mars muttered to himself as he pulled out his two axes and approached the largest of the ancient dragons.

* * *

Uni had arrived in the mountain range not long after Mars had entered the cave and immediately began to look for him, she wasn't sure why the strange delinquent would want to take on three S rank quests all by himself but she knew one thing: that guy was an idiot, at least he seemed so at first glance. For the next ten minutes she searched the mountain range in her HDD form, Black Sister, which her attire consisted of a black one piece bathing suite-like uniform, long black gloves and boots, her eyes had become bright green with a power symbol, her hair was now silver and up in two drill-tails on either side of her head, one other noticeable feature was that her breasts shrunk in size. Black Sister flew through the afternoon sky, the clouds much more dense than before and signs of rain and lightning were beginning to appear, it became clear to Black Sister that she would have to hurry her search before it started to rain heavily.

 _Hmm, if I was an ancient dragon, where would I hide? Somewhere hidden, somewhere obscure, somewhere… underground perhaps? Possibly in a cave? Yeah, a cave, that has to be where they are!_

As Black Sister flew over a stony track she spotted what appeared to be the entrance of a cave, she flew over to it and landed outside the entrance, it was dark inside but it was a good possible location for the ancient dragons as well as Mars, thus she entered the cave. To make herself more secure in safety Black Sister materialised her oversized rifle (well, more like a cannon really) and walked down the passage, listening carefully for any sounds and watched out for any signs of movement, yet there wasn't any sound to be heard or any movement to be seen. Black Sister turned on a torch to lighten the dark and continued walking. However, as soon as she turned around a corner she heard raised voices, or rather a voice and several roars, it didn't take a genius to realise what was going on.

Black Sister picked up her pace and ran around to the site of the noises and as soon as she arrived she was confronted with a young man on top of an ancient dragon's head and was slashing his axes into the monster's thick flesh, the ancient dragon that was being mutilated thrashed its head around back and forth but failed in sending the young man to crash to the ground. The other two ancient dragons attempted to take down Mars by slashing at him with their claws and tail, most of the time he would dodge the attacks but at other times the tips of the claws would strike him, ripping parts of his jeans and jacket. Black Sister couldn't describe why but she felt a sense of uneasiness whenever she looked at him, he didn't appear to notice her and the dragons didn't seem to notice either.

As she readied her massive weapon she watched in either amazement or shock as the young man started to glow red and his eyes glowed a blood red colour, in either eye a small black dot took the place of his pupils, suddenly he jumped into the air and shouted " **Savage Strike!** ", he then continuously swung his axes swiftly at the dragon beneath him, blood red energy had engulfed his weapons and were making a mark against his opponent. Finally he held his axes together and swung them over his head and into the unfortunate dragon's skull, killing it. As it disappeared into pixels Mars fell to the ground and landed on his feet, a savage grin was on his face as he glared at the remaining two ancient dragons. They roared at him, sending dust and small rocks into the air, Mars responded by roaring back at them in an inhuman way, it almost sounded like dragon roars.

Black Sister wouldn't admit it but she was starting to get a little terrified thanks to this new development, she continued to hide behind a large rock and peer at the battle, unsure whether to help Mars or just hide. Mars, on the other hand, put his two axes by his waist, grabbed his sniper rifle and ran around the dragons whilst shooting at them. From what she could see he was a good shot, but not as talented as herself. But as she continued to watch she realised that he had gotten cornered by the two ancient dragons and was starting to get tired, perhaps too tired to get himself out of his predicament.

 _This is it, this is when I save a citizen of Lastation and get my sister's praise!_

Black Sister came out from behind the rock, flew into the air and fired several rounds into the back of one of the dragons, causing it to turn around at the new attacker and began to pounce at her. Mars fired several more bullets into the other dragon before he noticed the silver haired girl by the large rock with an oversized gun, he wasn't impressed that someone else had turned up but he was also grateful that they had turned up as he would have been made into mincemeat; he had underestimated the ancient dragons. He was more used to fighting humans and spent little to no time fighting monsters.

"Hey, the hell are you still standing there for?!" yelled Black Sister. "Get out of here!"

"Like hell I am!" responded Mars with a shout. "These ancient dragons are mine and I ain't letting anyone else do the job for me!"

Mars moved out of the way as a spiked dragons tail smashed into the ground next to him, he jumped onto a large piece of crooked rock, aimed the sniper rifle up at the dragon and once it opened its mouth to roar at him again he locked onto his target: the dragon's throat.

"This is it, **Blood Beam**!" shouted Mars as he fired a blood red beam from his sniper rifle, this was one of his special attacks that he enjoyed using. The beam flew through the dragon's mouth and out the back of its neck, killing it instantly. He didn't enjoy his kill for long as the last of the ancient dragons swung his tail at Mars, smashing into him and sending him across the cave, he skidded for several feet before crashing into the cave wall, Black Sister could see skin from his face dangling down from the flesh and his jacket and jeans had become shredded.

Black Sister saw all of it happen and could only cringe at it, but when she saw skin dangling from his face and hands she became worried about him, despite her tsundere nature telling herself that she wasn't concerned. She looked back at the ancient dragon that she was fighting and knew that the fight would get ugly if something lucky didn't happen, it was then that she got an idea.

 _The ceiling, those rocks look loose and perhaps a few shots could dislodge them and cause the dragon to be crushed to death. It's worth a try!_

" **EX Multi Blaster**!" Black Sister shouted. An energy beam was shot from her gun and it hit the ceiling, as the dragon was about to launch an attack at Black Sister the ceiling came crashing down upon the beast, thus slaying it.

Black Sister, who sighed with relief at the death of the last monster, turned her attention towards Mars, who was loosing consciousness. She ran up to him and noticed that his eyes had returned back to their normal state and the blood red glowing aura around his body had also disappeared, but what startled her most was when she saw his wounds heal thanks to a red mist that came out of the wounds, soon his scraped skin and flesh were back to normal and the only way one could tell that he had been in a fight was the fact that his clothes had been torn in several places.

 _Is this guy even human? Who is able to survive such a hit and still be able to heal themselves like that? He isn't normal, those blood red eyes of his are too creepy for him to be just a normal person._

"Uh, hey… are you alright? I'm not concerned or anything, I just need to know," asked Black Sister.

The only response she got out of him was an unintelligible groan and he then lost consciousness, the last thing Mars saw and heard was the bright green of her eyes and her attempts to get him to stay awake.

* * *

 **A/N: Finally got a new chapter done, I'd appreciate suggestions and ideas from any of the readers for this fanfic, don't worry I still have ideas of my own but I just like to blend things together at times.  
**


	3. Officially Meeting the Tsunderes

**Chapter 2: Officially Meeting the Tsunderes**

* * *

 **A/N: Hey folks, the chapter is a bit shorter than usual and I apologise for that as well as a late update, but I had a few weeks off. I hope that the next chapter will be longer and it might be updated in a few weeks if I put my mind to it, possibly near Christmas. This story is going to be a tough one. Leave a review if you have suggestions, questions or ideas, I'm up for anything, and I will see you readers later in the next chapter.**

* * *

After the battle against the ancient dragons Black Sister was forced to carry the unconscious man back to the Lastation Basilicom, she was tempted to leave him there but decided against it in case anyone saw what happened, plus she was curious about who he truly was and what his powers were. When she arrived at the Basilicom atop the balcony she was met by her older sister and CPU of Lastation, Noire. The tsundere of a goddess was startled to see her younger sister carrying the limb body of some random person but got even more of a shock when Uni, who had reverted back to human form, told her of what she saw back in the cave. After hearing the story Noire quickly got Mars down to the medical facility, which all Basilicoms were required to have, and gave him to the care of whatever nurses or doctors happened to be around – they numbered to around three in total since most of the staff had taken a holiday. Even Kei, Oracle of Lastation, was intrigued by the new development and appeared in the medical facility to see what was going on.

The Lastation sisters and their Oracle were behind a large glass window that made up a large part of a wall in the medical facility and watched as the remaining team of doctors and nurses analysed the young man. The medical facility was made up of a black and white colour, the entire room was large enough to contain at least twenty patients and there were many medical instruments all over the place, including life supporters and other tools. When one of the doctors had proceeded to take off Mars' shirt to see the damage on the body he was left with a surprise as he found dozens upon dozens of scars all over the chest, stomach and arms, leaving little to the imagination. Noire noticed it and her eyes widened in shock.

"How the hell did this guy manage to get that many scars?!" Noire asked no one in particular.

"I hope that is rhetorical because I doubt any of us would know," responded Kei, getting a huff out of Noire.

Uni said nothing but continued to stare at the unconscious person on the bed, her gaze was set on the number of scars on Mars' body and she could only wonder what sort of fights the young man had gotten into, if they were even fights at all. The Candidate then noticed that Mars' breathing was irregular, he didn't seem to breathe as normally as other people would when in a stable condition – as the doctors had said that he was in a stable condition. Like every other person Mars' chest would move up and down when breathing, but unlike everyone else Mars' chest would hardly move up and down. The next surprise came when the doctor checked his heartbeat on a machine next to the bed, it was a surprise to everyone as they saw that the heartbeat was low, extremely low. This was enough for the CPU, her sister and their Oracle to enter the room and speak to the doctor in charge.

"What is wrong with him?" asked Noire. "You say he's in a stable condition yet he appears to be dying. Care to explain yourself?"

"Well, I'm not sure about it myself. From what I can guess it seems that his heartbeat is meant to be low, that's a stable condition for him, why that's the case I do not know," replied the doctor. "I think he might have been dying at some point in his life, but now there's something we don't yet know keeping him alive. How I don't know, but once he awakes you might get some answers out of him."

A beep suddenly came from the heartbeat machine and to everyone's shock it looked as if Mars' heartbeat had gone down, yet he remained in a stable condition. His breathing, slow as it was, remained the same. A nurse looked at the young man and sighed.

"How in the name of the Goddesses is he still alive?" she asked herself.

"Who knows," responded the doctor. "What do you want to do with him once he wakes up, Lady Black Heart?"

"I don't know, perhaps just ask questions I guess," replied Noire.

Uni looked at Mars once more and realised that he seemed to be peaceful, perhaps he was having a good dream or something she reasoned to herself. The CPU Candidate blinked for a second and she was then left staring at the wide open eyes of Mars, causing Uni cry out and fall to the ground in shock. Everyone else in the room noticed the commotion and stared at the young man, who was now sitting up straight on the bed.

"Why did you have to creep me out like that?!" yelled Uni as she got back on her feet.

Mars said nothing, instead he looked at his surroundings and hummed to himself quietly, he continued to ignore everyone around him for a minute before sighing and stared at the one who was trying to get his attention the most: Noire. Mars found her taste in clothing to be a tad weird. Noire appeared to be a pale-fair skinned girl with very long black hair about waist length that was worn up in long pigtails with two-piece black and blue ribbons. She had neatly combed bangs and noticeable red eyes. The black haired woman wore a fancy dress consisting of dark blue, white, red, and small amounts of gold lining and buttons, the dress part covers a red with black spiked lining cloth while the breast part was white, along with the skirt which was black lining on both layers. Behind this was a blue bow, matching a smaller one worn around her neck attached to a black and white collar, a gold piece was in the centre.

"What is it, Miss Grumpy Pants? Can't you see I'm busy looking at things?" Mars asked Noire rudely.

"Miss Grumpy Pants? Why you little… !" growled Noire before she started muttering to herself.

Kei sighed and took the place of Noire, who retired to the back of the room to grumble to herself about her new nickname while Uni shook her head. "I'm sorry about that, let's start this over again shall we?" said Kei politely. "My name is Kei Jinguji, Oracle of Lastation. What is your name?"

Before Mars answered the question he took a few seconds to gaze at the woman before him. Kei was a short girl with pale skin and boyish-cut silver hair, she had aqua blue eyes and wore a near-formal black suit with gold lining with many buttons and shorts. She also wore black high socks with white detailing and slip on black shoes with small blue and silver detailing. Two long tails came from the back of the jacket and had blue colouring inside. At first Mars thought Kei to be a boy until the Oracle spoke, thus changing the young man's thoughts.

"My name is Mars," replied the young man. "Where am I and why am I here?"

"I already know your name is Mars, but it is a strange name and I have a feeling that you're not from around here. As to why you are here, all I can say is that you were brought here after Miss Uni found you unconscious in the cave where those ancient dragons were nesting."

Mars eyed Kei suspiciously, never blinking once. "I know my name is strange, but that doesn't mean that it's too otherworldly. Besides, isn't Kei supposed to be a boys name? You do sure look like one to me."

Kei seemed surprised for a moment before glaring at Mars, she noticed that he had a mix of a cheeky and unpleasant grin on his face. "I see that you're not only rude but a smart-arse as well," sighed Kei.

"Yeah, I know. Anyway, back to what you said earlier; who is this Miss Uni who found me? And how did you know that I was fighting a bunch of ancient dragons?"

"Miss Uni is over there." Kei then pointed to where Uni was standing, the Candidate smiled and waved at Mars with a slight blush. "She was the one who rescued you."

"I don't think the word 'rescue' is to my liking, I could have fought my way out of there if I wanted to. Anyway, does she know what happened to the green eyed girl with the silver hair and that strange bathing costume?"

"Well actually, I am her," said Uni as she walked over to Mars and Kei. The Candidate then transformed into her HDD form and grinned at Mars. "In this form I am known as Black Sister, I was the one who saved you from being turned into mincemeat."

As Black Sister reverted back to her human form Mars snorted at her. "Yeah right, like you ever saved my ass. I'm guessing that you're the CPU Candidate of Lastation then, which makes that other girl at the back your older sister the Tsundere Queen herself: Black Heart."

"That's Lady Black Heart to you, and I'm not a Tsundere Queen!" yelled Noire.

"Yeah but I ain't the most polite person in all of Gamindustri if you haven't already noticed."

Uni sighed as she heard the two of them argue, this caught Mars' attention. "Hmm? Something wrong?"

"No, not really, nothing that concerns you," replied Uni. "And how long are you going to leave your shirt off?"

Mars noticed his shirt was missing and looked back at Uni, the CPU Candidate was blushing and had diverted her gaze elsewhere. "You embarrassed to see a half naked man in this room, eh?"

"Th-th-that's not the point!"

Kei looked at the young man's chest and couldn't help but wonder once again how he managed to get that many scars all over him. "I'm sorry if it is personal to you, but how did you manage to get that many scars all over your body?" asked Kei.

Mars sighed and was quick to put his shirt back on. "I prefer to keep that to myself, if you don't mind."

"If you so wish. But can you tell us why you have a low heartbeat?"

"Simple: I'm unique."

Mars ignored the suspicious stares from both Noire and Uni and turned his gaze at the number of medical machines that were situated near him, everyone noticed the shudder and cringe that came from him as he looked at the machines as if some sort of bad memory had turned up in his mind. This did not go unnoticed by everyone else in the room. After nearly a minute of silence Uni decided to ask the question that was on everybody's minds: what was the source of Mars' power, and what it was.

"Excuse me, Mars, would you mind telling me what that power of yours is?" Uni asked Mars. "It's… weird to say the least."

Mars suddenly looked gloomy and kept his gaze away from everyone else in the room. "I… I'd rather keep that to myself if you don't mind."

This did not go down well with Noire and Uni however, Noire approached Mars and glared down at him while she crossed her arms. "From what I gathered from Uni your power enables your body to recover from wounds while also increasing your strength, not to mention turning your eyes blood red. As your Goddess I want to know how you got this power and why."

"Heh, my Goddess? You're not my Goddess, in fact none of the others are as well. I have refused to put my faith in any of you and I aim to keep it like that. So no, I ain't going to tell you anything."

Before Noire could do anything Kei stepped next to her and put a hand on her shoulder. "Miss Noire, I think he does have the right to keep secrets to himself, I don't believe he is of an evil nature."

"Even so, the safety of my citizens is my main concern. How will they react when they see this guy walking around whilst his eyes are glowing red? Better to be safe than sorry."

Mars sighed and looked at Noire straight in the eyes. "I don't mean any harm towards your citizens, I'm not a threat and I hope you will continue to see me like that: not a threat. Now, if you'll excuse me."

Mars then got off the bed and walked towards the door, causing Uni shout at him. "Hey! Where do you think you're going?"

"I've got to finish the rest of those S rank quests. Now then, before I leave I want to know what happened to my jacket and my weapons. Where are they?"

"Well, your jacket got shredded during the fight so it's getting repaired, and as for your weapons they're down in the lobby in case you were going to leave. But as for continuing those quests; hell no!" replied Uni.

"What do you mean 'hell no'? I've got the right to do those damn quests if I want to."

"I suppose so, but..."

"But nothing. This doesn't concern you. If I want to do those quests then I will, it's my choice, not yours or your older sister. I said that I was going to complete them so I will, and I never go back on my word!"

His sudden outburst surprised Noire, Uni, Kei and the nursing staff, causing them to be silent. Eventually Mars sighed and looked away from them before walking out of the room and into the hallway, leaving everyone else behind. The silence was broken by Noire who sighed deeply and shook her head at the new development that had occurred.

"Seriously, he's going to get himself killed one of these days," grumbled Noire. "Still, even if he is rude and a complete smart-ass I cannot allow someone to get themselves killed."

"You're thinking of going out to help him, aren't you?" Kei asked Noire.

"Indeed. Perhaps if we gain his trust he'll finally shed some light about his unusual powers. Kei, do you think you can get the rest of the work done while I'm out with Uni?"

"Sure, I'll get as much of it done as possible."

"Wait, why me?" Uni asked Noire in a confused manner.

"Because you found him in that cave for whatever reason, so you'll be the one who is going to keep an eye out for him while trying to gain his trust alongside me at the same time. Make sense?" replied Noire.

"Fine then, but I doubt he'll just let us join him."

"Yeah, you've got a point. Hmm, how about you go with him while I deal with the other S rank quest that he'll leave for last? That should do the trick."

"Yet again, I doubt he will like it."

"As CPUs it is our job to help the people of Gamindustri, therefore you will help him in battle while I will take care of the last S rank quest."

"At any rate we have to keep an eye on him," said Kei. "If you will allow it I will contact Miss Histoire and see what she thinks on the matter."

Noire nodded. "Alright, lets do this."

The group left the room and made their way down the hallway, Kei separated and went to Noire's office to finish of all the reports and other paperwork that had been left behind when the tsundere CPU went down to the medical facility. Noire and Uni walked to an elevator and made their way to the front entrance where they found Mars, he seemed to had only just arrived and was confused with the layout of the Basilicom, surprising the CPUs since he managed to get to the entrance. Next up was the discussion of the plan.

* * *

"Why, in the name of all that is bloody, did I agree to this?" Mars asked no one in particular in a groaning tone.

"Because you just did, now stop whining about it," responded Uni.

The two of them were walking down a street in Lastation side-by-side, Mars had recovered his grey jacket as well as his weapons when he arrived at the entrance of the Basilicom, but there he was stopped by the CPUs of Lastation who told them of their plan. While Mars was reluctant he soon realised that there was no way he would be able to change their minds, so the young man did the only thing he could do: go along with their plan. Although he was at first surprised as to why the junior CPU was going along with him instead of the senior CPU, but decided not to argue about it.

Mars sighed and looked up at the afternoon sky, it was cloudy yet there was no sign of rain as of yet, although the sounds of thunder did not escape everyone's hearing. The street that Mars and Uni were walking along wasn't as filled with people was it had been earlier, no doubt due to impending storm that was to break over the heads of everybody in the city. The silence between the two of them was finally broken when Uni coughed for Mars' attention, which he duly gave.

"Hey, do you mind if I took a look at your sniper rifle?" Uni asked Mars.

"Er, sure, if you want to I suppose you can," replied Mars. The young man took his sniper rifle off his back and handed it over to Uni, who appeared to be studying it carefully and with keen interest.

"Hmm, I'm guessing that you must have seen quite a bit of action in battle, am I right?" asked Uni.

"Yeah, how could you tell?" responded Mars.

"It's easy to see battle damage on this sniper rifle, super easy. If I were you I would go down to the gun store and have it repaired, and maybe even upgraded. Perhaps it can have a better scope, a custom-built hand grip, laser pointer, the possibilities are endless!" She then returned the weapon to Mars with a large grin on her face full of excitement.

Much to his own amusement, Mars had never encountered a girl that was obsessed with guns like Uni was. Although a year ago when he crossed through Lastation on his self proclaimed mission to wipe out the surviving scientists he had heard of a rumour that the CPU Candidate was a little more than obsessed with all manner of guns, it seemed that the rumour was true. Her eyes gleamed brightly as she kept mentioning different upgrades to Mars' sniper rifle as they continued to walk down the street.

The two of them were heading to the north to clear out the monsters that had been attacking, apparently the descriptions were similar to large robotic contraptions that had been created a while back by some people to defend their farms and factories from being attacked by monsters but instead the contraptions turned on their former masters and killed them. The area they roamed was near the Lowee border, which was where Mars and Uni were going to head for first before searching the area around it.

They continued to walk side-by-side, turning corner when necessary, the weather remained the same. Uni took this time to evaluate what she thought of the young man standing to her left. She realised that Mars was taller than Noire, only just taller than her though, he hardly blinked and always stared at whatever was in front of him, Uni also noticed how he never seemed to smile in any given situation. Uni's opinion of him was a little mixed, on one hand he seemed capable in a fight and his strange powers were quite useful, although on the other hand he was rude, a smart-arse and had no respect for anyone else. The Candidate also saw how people would stay away from Mars, when she took a glance at him and saw his two axes strapped to his belt, no doubt they were to blame for everyone looking and walking away from him.

 _Wait, this could be bad. If the people see me with this guy then there's a chance that faith for me and my sister could go down! I hope that won't be the case._

"Hmm? Something bothering you?" Mars asked Uni.

"W-what? No, nothing at all," replied Uni hastily, causing Mars to raise an eyebrow at her.

"C'mon, just tell me already."

"Well, do you have to show everyone those damn axes of yours?"

"What? Oh." Mars finally realised what Uni was trying to talk about and quickly covered them up with his jacket. "You could have told me before instead of being a tsundere."

"What do you mean a 'tsundere'?! I'm not a tsundere, idiot."

"Whatever." Thus silence reigned over the two of them once again with Uni being annoyed with Mars while Mars himself opted to remain silent for the rest of the trip north until they were near the border, whenever that would happen.


	4. The Makings of a Team

**Chapter 3: The Makings of a Team**

The trip to the north remained a silent one ever since Uni and Mars decided to keep quiet lest they start to argue amongst themselves, not that Mars would have minded it, he always seemed to find himself in some sort of argument and generally greeted such events for an untold reason. Once they got out of the city and were ten minutes away from it the rain started to pour down on them, much to Uni's discomfort as she had hoped that the rain would start to fall after they had returned to the Basilicom. Mars noticed the drenched hair on Uni's head and watched as water flowed down her head, onto her dress and dripped down to the muddy ground. Uni looked miserable and groaned in annoyance due to the weather.

"Ugh, will this damn weather ever go away?!" groaned Uni as she slummed her way forth.

Mars could tell that Uni was annoyed but she also sounded disheartened, if there was something Mars hated seeing it was other people feeling upset, disheartened or in a poor mood. To Uni's surprise Mars took off his jacket and put it around the tsundere CPU Candidate. Uni looked at him in confusion and noticed how he did not seem to tremble from the cold, in fact he looked completely fine despite being drenched from the rain. He never blinked and continued to stare in front of him as he walked. Mars was no ordinary human Uni summarised, something unnatural reeked from him and she was determined to find out what. In the meantime Uni was more distracted by Mars giving her his jacket to wear.

"Y-Y-You don't have to give me it," Uni told Mars.

"I know that, but it looked like you were shivering from the cold, better to stay warm than to freeze," responded Mars.

"Aren't you even fazed by the weather?"

"No, in fact I never get bothered with this type of weather."

"But won't you get a cold if you don't stay warm?"

"Nah, for some reason I'm immune to diseases of any kind plus my body is bad at recognising the temperature, so I'm fine with it."

Uni wasn't quite sure how to respond to that, but instead of continuing that part of the conversation she decided to thank him for the jacket. "Anyway, th-th-thanks for the jacket."

"Hmm, had a hard time saying it I hear. Truly you are a tsundere."

Uni pouted at Mars, causing the young man to sigh and continue staring at whatever was in front of him. He did not appear to be the type of person to hold a long conversation with. Silence reigned over the group once again as they made their way north. Uni put the jacket's hood over her head and sighed in relief that the hood didn't have any damage to it, therefore none of the rain would continue to pour over her head. Mars' jacket was damaged yet it provided warmth for the CPU Candidate, much to her own surprise. She took a glance at Mars once more and her thoughts turned back to the conversation that they had back in the Basilicom, well it was more of a kind-hearted interrogation on Noire's behalf, the talk was about Mars' power.

 _I wonder, this power of his, is it somehow able to prevent him from getting unwell as well as increasing his strength in battle? I'm sorry to bring this up again, Mars, but I am too curious about what it is._

"Hey, Mars, it isn't because I'm interested or anything, but can you tell me what power you possess?" Uni asked Mars, hoping he wouldn't get annoyed.

Mars sighed and stopped walking, Uni looked at him with a bit of dread, she had seen his angry side during the fight against the ancient dragons and it was scary, though she guessed that wasn't the full extent of Mars' wrath. The young man looked at the Candidate and seemed ready to answer her question though, he didn't seem angry but instead just appeared to be uninterested.

"To be truthfully honest I actually don't know, all I know about this power is that it can heal my wounds, defend me from sickness and gives me great strength and agility in battle," replied Mars. "I don't know its name or how it was able to do this, but I've put up with it for quite some time."

"Well how did you manage to get it?"

Mars fell silent and a shadow formed over his eyes, it was clear to Uni that it was a touchy subject and he wasn't prepared to talk about it. "I think it is best that we avoid talking about it."

Uni nodded and together the two of them continued to walk along the dirt road, the trees began to become more compressed and the forest was dense, the ground was muddy and wet, the rain refused to let them be. A flash of lightning appeared in the sky which was followed by the sound of thunder, it was all that Mars and Uni heard during their travel to the north. The further north they travelled the less signs of wildlife there were, not to mention how the forest began to be even more compressed as well as the expression on Mars' face, he was tense, as if stressed, worried or even sad.

The CPU Candidate noticed these facial expressions and deep down she felt a little bit worried for the young man, from what Uni had seen of Mars she knew that he was a quiet type of person when his anger wasn't around, but the grim expression on his face coupled with the silence coming from him was starting to worry her. Not that Uni would ever admit it of course. Suddenly Mars stopped walking and stared towards his left, as if he was aware of something that Uni could not see or hear. She glanced at where he was looking but could only see trees and bushes for miles, with a confused expression Uni looked at Mars.

"Hey, Mars, is something wrong?" Uni asked Mars. "You're looking a little tense."

Mars sighed and looked back at Uni. "It's nothing. Let's continue, the location should be somewhere to the east of here."

Uni nodded in response and together the two of them continued to walk, this time their path taking them eastward. The Lastation Candidate chose to not continue the conversation about what Mars was looking at, better to know that the location was nearby to the east rather than to anger a person who could roar in a beast-like manner she reasoned. Even as they walked the rain refused to go away and Uni huddled in the jacket that Mars lent to her in the hope that it would keep her warm, which it did much to her surprise, yet it still surprised her that Mars wasn't affected by the cold rain. After twenty minutes of walking in an eastward direction Mars suddenly stopped in his tracks and held one of his hands up to stop the Candidate, she stopped walking and looked at the quiet young man.

"What is it? Why have we stopped?" asked Uni.

"Can't you hear it?" responded Mars.

Uni shook her head. "I can't hear anything expect for this damn rain. What are you refering to?"

"Huh, guess I've also got super good hearing as well, not bad. Anyway, I can hear the loud sounds of metal grinding against metal, and the ground sounds like thunder, our prey is near."

"Our prey? What are you, some sort of hunter?"

"In a way. Follow me, there's a few small hills not far from here that will give us some cover."

"How do you know that there's a few hills over there?"

"Because I just do."

Mars then ran eastward through the trees and towards the hills, Uni quickly followed after him. As they neared the hills they found that there were less trees and more open space, eventually they arrived at the grass covered hills and hid around them, Uni then heard what sounded like thunder, except it was coming from the very earth itself. As the Candidate looked over a large rock she saw two killachines stomping around, both carried axes and maces in their hands and were uprooting the trees around them as they walked. They were tall, incredibly tall, the first had four spider-type legs and a pointy tail while the second seemed to float around, they both had large mechanical bodies and some parts of it were a but rusty, they also had giant heads with glaring eyes and two arms each, what shocked the tsundere Candidate was that there were signs of blood on the killachine's weapons. Uni materialised her rifle and made sure it was loaded before looking at Mars, who was staring sternly at their mechanical opponents fiercely.

"Have we got a plan of attack?" she asked him, the Candidate hoped that he had a strategy in place.

"I have a plan: attack," replied Mars as he pulled his axes out of his belt and charged directly at the closest killachine. Sighing deeply at his recklessness she jumped over the rock and rushed towards him, to which he looked back and gave an order. "This one is mine, you can take on the other killachine!"

Uni grumbled but complied with it, after all, if she could take out a killachine all by herself then that would mean she could finally prove herself worthy in the eyes of Noire, that was her reasoning at least. With a nod she ran towards the second killachine, firing her rifle at it's head to which it turned around at her and swung its mace, the CPU Candidate barely dodged it before the handle of the axe was slammed against her, sending Uni to skid across the muddy ground. With anger in her eyes the Candidate jumped back onto her feet and resumed her attack against the mechanical killer. Mars watched as Uni skidded on the ground and resume her fight against the mighty machine, he had to admit that so far from what he had seen the CPU Candidate was impressive in battle, as he dodged a swing from his mechanical opponent's mace he saw how Uni ducked attack after attack as she shot round after round into the giant killer robot. Eventually Uni found a weak spot in the metal armour of the machine and quickly decided to exploit it, the weak spot was the mechanical joints in the arms, after spotting it Uni was quick to fire her rifle at the arm joints.

"Take that! Die!" yelled Uni as she shot at the arm joints.

The left arm fell off, sparks emitted from where the arm had once been and the killachine flailed around while swinging its mace at the Candidate, without any time to dodge she managed to block the attack with her rifle, yet the attack sent Uni flying towards Mars who was running around the first killachine while slashing at the legs and its tail – why it had one was a surprise to the young man. As Mars sliced an axe through one of the legs he heard the sounds of Uni yelling, he turned around and saw the Candidate flying at him at full force, with swift precision he ran towards Uni and tried to catch her but instead got a butt in the face. The two were then sent flying across the muddy ground, Mars was flat on his back while Uni was sitting on his face, fortunately for Uni's dignity her dress was in the way.

"Ugh, what the… huh? Wh-Wh-Wh-What?! P-P-P-P-Pervert!" shouted Uni at the top of her lungs.

Mars' voice was muffled as he tried to speak due to the dress and Uni's butt, this made the matter only worse as it caused Uni to feel Mars' mouth moving underneath her butt, it felt utterly weird for her and uncomfortable. She screeched and slammed her fists into his gut, got back onto her feet and glared viciously at the young man, Mars felt empty of wind due to the punch, the Candidate was absolutely red in the face and had a hand covering her butt while her other hand was holding her dress down. Before he could comment they both looked up to see the two killachines approaching them with the intent to kill. Mars stood up, grabbed his axes and looked at Uni who was still looking embarrassed at what happened before.

"Come on, let's forget about what happened before and destroy these damn machines already," said Mars calmly as he was looking at the Candidate. "Oh, by the way, you've got a fine butt."

Uni's face became even more red than ever before, Mars could even swear that steam was coming out of her ears, although that would have been too strange for him. He looked back at the killachines and charged, he dodged the swipe of an axe and a mace before grabbing hold of the tail that was attached to the first mechanical killer, he then climbed the tail and onto the back while slashed and hacking away with his axes. As the second killachine began to swipe an axe down towards Mars several bullets hit the second killachine's hand, causing it to step back and look at the one who was doing the shooting: Uni. The Candidate had recovered her composure, surprisingly, and returned to do battle alongside Mars, from a distance of course. The young man's eyes turned blood red and the dark red aura enveloped around his body, he then raced to the head of the killachine and began to tear it apart with his two axes while Uni continued to fire rounds against both killachines.

" **EX Multi Blaster!** " shouted Uni as a bright beam erupted from her rifle and through the robotic knee of one of the first killachine's legs, tipping it off balance. One other knee then shattered and the killachine then began to collapse onto the other, the second killachine noticed this and, with a surprising amount of intellect, pushed the first killachine in the opposite direction, it then regained its balance by using its tail in place of the shattered legs. The fact that the giant killer robots were showing signs of intellect was a surprise, which meant that their creators were bold to insert an intelligence chip, but the machines also seemed to be helping each other in their time of need, that was highly unusual. Uni's thoughts were distracted when Mars was thrown off the first killachine and crash landed next to the Candidate.

"Um, Mars, are you seeing what I'm seeing?" Uni asked Mars as he stood up.

"Yeah, that isn't normal behaviour for a killachine," responded Mars. "We've got a big fight on our hands."

Uni then transformed into Black Sister and flew into the sky. "Let's try and take out the first one, see of you can destroy its tail and we'll try to get it to fall on top of the other killachine."

"Sure, whatever."

Black Sister flew through the air and fired round after round at the first killachine while Mars evaded the attacks from the first and second killachine, he raced towards the robotic tail of the first killachine and began hacking away at it with his axes, the red energy of his increased his speed and brutal strength and began to show as pieces of the tail were chipped away. Eventually Black Sister blasted a hole through one of the remaining legs of the damaged robotic killer, then the tail was hacked off when Mars savagely struck his axes through the metal.

" **Savage Strike!** " yelled Mars as his axes cleaved through the killachine's tail.

The killer robot fell directly onto the second killachine, which was preparing to swing it's mace at Mars, the floating killachine fell to the ground with its mechanical companion crushing it to death. However, the fight was not yet over. The first killachine was still very much active, it swung its mace at Mars and it hit him, the young man managed to block most of the impact with his axes but it was enough to send him flying across the ground and back towards the hills. Black Sister watched in horror as Mars skidded across the muddy ground and slammed into a rock, she gritted her teeth and fired at the surviving killachine while it tried, and failed, to get back onto his feet and attempt to kill the CPU Candidate.

Mars stopped skidding across the ground after he collided with a large boulder, he groaned as he got back onto his feet and glanced at the mess he and his tsundere team-mate had created, large pieces of robotic parts were scattered across the field and a huge pile of mechanical parts were piled where the killachines were, he saw Black Sister firing her mighty weapon against the surviving robotic killer as it tried to hit her with its axe and mace. As Mars prepared to race forward to assist her he felt a sudden tinge of pain in his chest, then it erupted into what people would call a heart attack, at least that is what it appeared to look like. Mars gripped the area above his heart and tried to utter a sound, but he failed to do so, instead he fell to his knees and everything around him appeared to turn black and white and all he could feel was the huge amount of pain occurring around his heart. Mars tried to breathe for air yet no matter how hard he tried he felt as if it was not working. This wasn't the first time that it had happened, in fact the first time that it happened occurred during the first eight months after the facility he was in had been destroyed, Mars was somewhere in the southern parts of Lowee when the pain attacked his heart and all of his chest, it wasn't fateful and nothing seemed to be different after it went away but after that incident Mars had been wary in case it would occur again, but in such a time and place as he was in now it was not towards his best interests. What would happen if Black Sister saw what was happening to him? Mars didn't want to worry the CPU Candidate with the knowledge.

Eventually the pain went away and Mars was back to his normal self, he looked up at Black Sister and noticed that she hadn't seen what had just happened, much to his relief, he also noticed that the rain had finally subsided.

 _That… that was close, I'm glad Uni didn't see that, I'd hate to explain it all to her. I better get back into the fight._

Mars grabbed his sniper rifle and raced back into the fray, he took aim and fired a few rounds at the damaged killachine's head while Black Sister continued to shot the hell out of the robotic killer. "About time you got back into the fight, what took you so long?" demanded Black Sister as she flew next to Mars.

"Was just getting back on my feet," replied Mars.

Black Sister raised and eyebrow before looking back at their opponent. "This damn machine is almost destroyed, you ready for the final blow?"

"You bet I am. **Blood Beam!** "

" **XMB: Empress!** "

Their attacks blasted a hole through the chest of the killachine, ending its mechanical life once and for all. What was left of it collapsed fully onto the ground and crushed what little remained of the second killachine. The red energy around Mars had died away and his eyes returned to normal, he slung his sniper rifle over his left shoulder, got his axes back and strapped them to his belt. With a smug look on her face Black Sister approached the ruined killachines, when she stood in front of them the Candidate crouched on one knee and started to search through the mechanical debris, Mars approached her and could only wonder what she was looking for. The CPU Candidate ripped off a part of the first killachine's head and began rummaging through it's robotic brain, eventually she pulled her hand out of the head and clasped firmly in her hand was a small computer chip, Black Sister looked over towards Mars and showed him the small object.

"I'm guessing this must have been the source of their intelligence," suggested Black Sister as Mars took the computer chip and studied it.

"I guess so, I'm not good with technology but this might have been a piece of what made them cunning," responded Mars as he gave it back to Black Sister. "We should take it back to your sister and see what she has to say about it."

Black Sister nodded and stood up when suddenly a loud noise began to ring in their ears, Mars looked around before noticing that the killachines were beginning to look heated up, then an ominous ticking noise was heard. Black Sister glanced around her but could not find the source of it, then Mars looked once more at the killachines and realised what was going on: the mechanical killers had a self-destruct system implanted in them. As quickly as he could the young man ran up to Black Sister and tackled her away from the killachines just as they exploded, sending the two of them tumbling across the muddy grass field. Mars and Black Sister landed with a thud onto the ground, the Candidate looked up at her saviour and saw that he had his right arm across her chest and around her back, his right leg was entangled with her right leg and his face was close to hers. The tsundere turned red with embarrassment before she smelt the scent of burnt clothes, Mars then released his grip over her and began to role across the ground, then Black Sister saw that the back of his shirt was on fire and red mist was coming out of his back, left leg and parts of his left arm.

"Hot hot hot hot hot!" yelled Mars as he rolled on the ground until the fire was put out, he then stood up and looked at himself: he was a complete mess. The back of his shirt was almost completely burned away and mud covered most of his shirt and jeans, even his hair had not escaped from the mud. As he stood up Black Sister was given a good view of his bare back, she grimaced as her gaze looked upon the large number of scars and what appeared to be burn marks on his back, she bit her lip as she noticed what looked like scars from the lashes of a whip that went from his left shoulder and towards the right hip.

 _Just what kind of life has this guy been living? It must have been utterly harsh, and for that I feel sorry for him. I'd ask Mars what he's been through but I know that I will never get an answer._

"Stop looking at my back," Mars told Black Sister in a low voice.

"S-S-S-Sorry!" responded Black Sister as she looked away while standing up.

"Don't worry, I don't blame you. You alright though?"

"Yeah, I am, th-thanks."

"My pleasure. Do you still have the computer chip?"

Black Sister shook her head. "Lost it during the explosion, probably been turned into smithereens. Anyway, we should head back to the Basilicom, it's starting to get dark."

Mars looked up at the sky and gazed at the rising moon and the stars, Black Sister noticed how calm and peaceful he was just by looking at it all, the Candidate giggled as she approached the young man. "I didn't know you liked star gazing."

"It's a peaceful hobby, and one that I enjoy. Do you think you can carry me back to the Basilicom?"

"I can try, but I'm getting tired so don't expect to be carried there for the whole trip. "Oh, you might want this." Black Sister then gave Mars his damaged and muddy grey jacket, which he quickly put back on. "Um... thanks for lending it to me."

"You're not used to thanking people, are you?"

Black Sister gave him a glare before sighing. "Whatever. Come on, we don't want to keep Noire waiting." Black Sister put her arms underneath his and lifted him into the air, then they flew towards Lastation. "By the way, keep the… uh, perverted incidents to yourself, I don't want Noire to kill you."

"Sure then, I'll keep it to myself. I promise." As they flew through the darkening sky Mars stared at wonder towards the rising moon and the glowing stars, his conflicted mind seemed at ease.

* * *

"Well, that was fun," remarked a young man. He was wearing a dark blue coat with a hood over his head, black combat boots, black pants and a light brown shirt with a white double headed eagle on it, his hair was concealed by the hood, his eyes were blue and his right hand he was holding a binocular which he was looking through. His gaze was set upon the scene that had been left behind by Mars and Uni.

"Those killachine could have put up more of a fight though. Perhaps I should've given those inventors a few extra computer chips that had some battle strategy software on them," the young man mumbled to himself.

"Like you had any in the first place," remarked a voice that was coming from behind him.

The young man turned around and saw who was approaching him, it was a young woman who had blonde hair that was tied up in a ponytail behind the back of her head and had dark green eyes, she was wearing a zipped up brown jacket with a hood, dark grey pants and steel cap boots. She stopped walking when she got near the young man and looked to where he was glancing at through the binoculars. "Did your killachine's do well at least?" she asked him.

"They did well, as far as they were programmed to at least," he replied. "Though they could have been better, perhaps I should have gotten that idiotic inventor to construct a few extra arms or legs, maybe even some turrets and missile launchers."

The young woman chuckled. "You and your machine obsession. Though I must say, those two must have put up a hard fight against those mechanical killers if they were victorious."

The man nodded before looking at his companion, a cheeky grin was visible on his face. "Yeah, but not as hard as something else, if you know what I mean." He then winked at her.

The young woman stared at him sternly before quickly kneeing him in his crotch, sending the young man to the ground and onto his knees. "There, are you hard now?" she asked him with a calm expression.

"That was completely unnecessary," whimpered the young man as he held his privates.

"It was completely necessary. No matter how many times you try and hit on me you just cannot succeed, give up already."

"I can't help it, you're hot."

The young woman shook her head and sighed deeply. "Shut up already, or I'll crush more than just your manhood. Anyway, did you recognise who was fighting the killachines?"

"Just the CPU Candidate of Lastation and a guy with some wicked scars on his back," replied the young man, he was still holding his crotch and groaning in pain as he spoke. "What should we do about them?"

"Leave them be, we're only the reconnaissance group, not the fighting force. You've already caused enough trouble as it is with those robots."

The young man chuckled before wincing in pain, he looked over at where the fight took place and a grin was on his face, then his eyes turned blood red with a black dot in each eye. "I have a feeling that we'll meet that guy face to face someday, and I'll have a really 'fun' day when that happens."

* * *

"When are they going to get back?" grumbled Noire as she sat in her office chair.

Night was quickly creeping over Gamindustri and Noire was getting worried, Uni and Mars hadn't returned from their S rank mission and the CPU of Lastation was highly concerned about their safety, mainly the safety of Uni. The S rank mission in the southern region of Lastation was easier than Noire had predicted, it was just a large pack of fernirs of different shapes and sizes, it only took less than an hour for it to be completed. Kei had told her to not worry about her younger sister, she was more than capable in taking on an S rank quest, plus she was with Mars who sounded as if he was a capable fighter, but that certainly didn't put Noire's mind at ease, in fact just by mentioning the name of Mars made the CPU even more worried. He wasn't quite the most stable character and was highly suspicious, she didn't trust him in the slightest, but she was the one who decided to get Uni to go along with him in the first place since Uni had found him in a cave and therefore the CPU concluded that perhaps Mars trusted her a bit. Now Noire had concluded that perhaps it was a mistake to let Uni go with Mars. Her thoughts and concerns were muted when the door to her office opened and there stood Uni and Mars, both looked worn out.

"Uni! Are you alright? How did you go? Are you hurt?" Noire bombarded Uni with question after question and ignored Mars, who was the most battle damaged of the two.

"I'm fine Noire, really. Were you that worried about me?" inquired Uni.

"Wh-What? No, I knew you could handle it," replied Noire hastily.

"Huh, guess it runs in the family," mumbled Mars as he noted the tsundere natures of the two raven haired girls.

"What did you say?" Noire asked Mars, her eyes glared at him.

"Nothing of great importance, o wise Tsundere Queen." Mars then did a dramatic bow.

"Ts-Ts-Ts-Ts-Tsundere Queen?! Why you… grrrrr!"

Noire seemed ready to kill him, and Mars looked prepared to take the challenge head on, it would have escalated into a full on battle between the two if it hadn't been for Uni. "Come on, Noire, I'm getting hungry, let's have dinner. I'll cook some curry for you. How does that sound?" said Uni.

That seemed to cool Noire's temper down. "Alright then, Uni, I'm all for your curry tonight." She then turned her attention towards Mars. "Now all three S rank quests are done, you better get back to the Guild and hand the results over to whoever is there at the moment. Anyway, it's getting late, you should head off now."

Mars nodded in agreement, it was probably the only thing that Noire said that the young man agreed on. "Alright then, I'm off." said Mars as he walked out of Noire's office and down the hallway towards the elevator.

Uni watched as Mars entered the elevator and descended to the lower levels of the Basilicom, Noire, however, seemed relieved that he had left. Uni then turned her attention back to her older sister. "Noire, why do you dislike Mars?" the Candidate asked.

"He's just suspicious and highly rude," explained Noire as she crossed her arms. "I'll finish off these last few piles of paperwork while you start dinner, Kei contacted Histoire earlier about Mars and she's interested in meeting him, but not yet."

"So where's Kei?"

"Probably working down at the factories right now. Good luck with dinner."

Uni smiled at her older sister before leaving the office and headed for the elevator, as she entered the elevator her thoughts turned to Mars, she felt a bit bad for the young man when he was face to face with Noire. Finally she made a decision and sent the elevator to the bottom level, she was going to the entrance to see Mars before he left.

* * *

As Mars left the Basilicom and was walking down the path that led him to the streets he heard a voice coming from the entrance. "Hey, Mars! Wait up!"

Mars turned around and saw Uni running up to him, she stopped in front of him and panted for breath before speaking. "You alright? I-I'm not concerned or anything, I just wanted to know," she asked him in her tsundere nature.

"Yeah, I'm fine, though I can barely stand being in the same room as your sister," replied Mars. "Something about her just makes me want to beat some sense into her."

"Don't be too harsh on her, she's just not good around people. Noire is a great person once you get to know her."

"I'd rather not know her if she's going to treat me like shit. Apart from that is there anything else before I leave to goodness knows where?"

Uni was confused by that last statement that Mars said, 'leave to goodness knows where', she wondered what he meant by that. "Um, what do you mean by 'leave to goodness knows where'?"

"Well, I don't actually have a place to live, so I'll just find somewhere to sleep," came the reply.

The Candidate hadn't expected that or an answer, the shocked look on her face was proof enough of it. "Really?! You have nowhere to live?! But aren't you a citizen?"

"I don't know if I am a citizen, and I doubt that I am one actually."

"Would you… um, c-consider s-s-sleeping at the Basilicom for the night? I-I'm making curry for dinner if y-you're interested."

Mars hadn't considered the possibility of sleeping in the Basilicom, but after he had a few seconds to think about it he decided that it wasn't a good idea, mainly because of the presence of Noire. "Nah, I'm good, I'll find somewhere to sleep. Thanks for offering though. Anything else? I'm starting to get sleepy."

Uni had guessed that Mars would decline her offer, she also guessed that the young man wasn't a citizen of Lastation, but the Candidate had other plans for that subject. But there was one last thing that she wanted to clear up with him. "Yeah, there is one last thing. Will I be seeing you at the Guild again?"

"I suppose so, I haven't got anywhere else to go yet so I might as well go back tomorrow. If you want to I guess I can let you team up with me."

Uni chuckled at that last statement of his. "You guess you'll let me team up with you? I'm the one letting you team up with me, get it right already."

Mars raised an eyebrow, but he appeared amused, as amused as he could appear despite lacking certain emotions. "Whatever you say… er, what do I call you? Black Sister? Lady Black Sister?"

"Uni. I'll let you call me Uni. Well, see you tomorrow, Mars." As Uni walked back into the Basilicom she heard Mars call for her, the Candidate turned around and looked back at him.

"Hey, Uni, you owe me a new set of clothes," Mars informed her. "You better make sure that they look exactly like the ones I'm currently wearing."

Uni chuckled and appeared to be in a good mood for once, she smiled at Mars and gave him a thumbs up. "Alright then, just this once because you saved me from that explosion. See you tomorrow."

"Alright then, good luck."

The two parted ways for the night and the tension that was around them seemed to have lifted, Uni felt happier and energised while Mars felt something he hadn't felt for a long time, if ever at all: a small sense of happiness. He walked down the near empty streets of Lastation to look for a place to rest for the night, preferably somewhere with a bed and a roof. He took one last glance at the Basilicom, which was in the distance behind some buildings, before continuing on his path down a street.

"Guess this little break might be for the best. I'll just have to wait and see what happens tomorrow when I turn those quests in, though I do wonder if Uni is actually going to get me a set of clothes. Heh, guess it doesn't matter. Now I'm looking forward to tomorrow's questing time," Mars mumbled to himself as he continued to walk alone down the empty street towards the outskirts of the city.

* * *

 **A/N: Got this chapter done ahead of time, which is a surprise to me. Now at least I've got a bit of a plot occurring. Like what I've done with the chemistry between Mars and Noire? It might change, yet it might not. Anyway, have a good day readers.**

 **Announcement: This story will be put on hold for a while, this is because I have decided to do one story at a time, therefore I will come back to this after The Rising Darkness has been completed. The plot keeps changing and so this break from Subject 13: Mars will give me time to come up with a stable plotline. I am sorry but I promise to come back to this after my first story is completed, so stay tuned.**


	5. A New Beginning

**Chapter 4: A New Beginning**

* * *

 **A/N: Hello again, sorry for the long wait. I did say that this was on hold and, well, I guess it sort of is. This isn't my primary story but I will update it whenever I get the chance, just remember that the updates won't be a regular occurrence. The reason I got this chapter out was because I got some inspiration from listening to some music and also because of HDNftw's work (check that guy's fanfics out, especially 'The Guardian of Lastation Rewind' and give him a booty slap). You may also notice that I have introduced arcs into this, so far I've come up with two. Anyway, have a good day readers and stay tuned for the next chapter – I won't say when it will be released.**

* * *

The day broke out and the sun bore its light upon the lands of Gamindustri and the roosters bellowed in their own animal tongue, thus they awakened many people from either good or bad sleep. One of these people was none other than Mars who had taken residence in a factory that had been closed down due to safety hazards, no buyer had been found for it so it made for a good place of temporary residence for the young man. He had lived in much harsher places throughout Gamindustri such as monster dungeons, in a tree, in some random hole and even on a rock in the middle of a blizzard, suffice to say Mars had lived in harsh climates in tough places.

Mars groaned as he awoke from a dream he could not recall, as he leaned upwards his head collided with a part of a broken ceiling, the blow fully woke the young man up as he growled at the broken ceiling. He had made what used to be an office as his temporary home, the walls were a mix of black and grey while the ceiling was white, the entire office wasn't big yet it wasn't small either. The ceiling was caving in and the plaster on the walls were pealing off, revealing the metal and wooden beams behind it. Before Mars went to sleep he had to check whether there was any monsters living in the ruins, fortunately for him there weren't any so the young man slept well that night. Now that the day had dawned it was time for him to return to the Guild and inform the staff that the quests were completed.

"Hmm, I wonder what I could have for breakfast," Mars mumbled to himself as he stood up and stretched his back out before grabbing his axes as well as his sniper rifle, he then strolled out of the ruined factory office and down the stairway towards the main entrance. The young man was still wearing his clothes from yesterday and failed to find any sort of place to bathe in the entire factory complex, but this wasn't much of a concern to him anyway.

The abandoned factory was just outside of the city and was surrounded by a road, a car park and grasslands. Mars exited the factory and made is way down the road towards the city of Lastation, along the way he wondered if he would bump into Uni again, the Candidate did say that she was going to get him a set of clothes that were exactly the same as the set he was currently wearing. Mars doubted that he would see her again though, but he did admit to himself that Uni was an interesting person to say the least.

The cool wind started to pick up speed as he entered Lastation, the people were already hard at work with whatever they had to do job wise, it took Mars by surprise the first time he stepped foot in the city less than two years ago, but now that he had seen their patron Goddess first-hand he soon realised that the people were modelling themselves after her attitude towards work. It would have made Mars laugh if he understood the emotions to do so. The young man felt the cool wind on his face and thought it to be quite nice, he then threw his hood back and let the wind flow through his scruffy brown hair as he continued to walk towards the Guild.

People continued to avoid getting too close to him due to the axes on his belt and the sniper rifle on his back, yet again this didn't bother him. When the Guild came into sight he sighed with relief before he glanced to his right and saw a gun store nearby, Uni's words and suggestions about upgrading his sniper rifle soon came flooding through his mind. With a deep sigh he approached the store and opened the door, he stepped inside and was met with all manner of guns laying about on different shelves, many of which he had never seen before. The owner stood behind the counter and glanced at Mars, the young man noticed how the owner raised an eyebrow at him before shrugging, the owner then sat down on a chair and began to read the latest newspaper. Mars decided to ignore him and began to roam past the shelves and tables, eyeing each and every gun in sight. There were many different handguns in all shapes and sizes, then he came across assault rifles and shotguns. It was a gun expert's heaven.

As Mars walked past the shelves he failed to look ahead of him to look for any incoming traffic, it was then that he walked straight into a person who appeared to have been walking past without looking as well. Both of them fell to the ground and angry grumbles came from both. "Watch where you're walking!" growled the person Mars walked into.

"How about you watch where you're looking!" Mars retorted with a snarl. When Mars looked at who he bumped into he got quite the shock. "Uni? What are you doing here?"

Uni looked at Mars and appeared to be very surprised. "Mars? What are you doing here?"

"I asked first."

"Well I'm a CPU Candidate so you have to answer first."

"Hmph, fine. I'm here because I decided to listen to what you said yesterday about acquiring new parts for my sniper rifle."

Uni stood up as she listened to Mars' explanation, and she had to say that she was quite impressed that the young man even considered to listen to her rambling. "Well then, has anything tickled your interests?" Uni asked him as he got back onto his feet.

Mars merely shrugged. "I don't think so, I'm only looking at the moment since I haven't returned to the Guild yet."

"Huh, I see." The Candidate then smelt something odd, she sniffed the air for a few seconds to make out what the scent was. It smelt like sweat, charcoal and… industrial oil? The smell was coming from Mars. "Um, Mars, did you even take a bath or a shower after you got back to your place? You reek."

Mars shook his head. "No, I live in an abandoned factory outside the city so I couldn't get myself bathed."

Uni raised an eyebrow before sighing and shaking her head. "Well no wonder you smell of industrial oil. But why an abandoned factory?"

"It was all I could afford at such short notice."

The CPU Candidate of Lastation eyed Mars suspiciously before sighing again. "That does it, you're coming with me."

"To where?"

"The Basilicom so you can have a bath or a shower, then I can get you a spare change of clothes until I find an attire similar to the one you're wearing now." She then motioned for Mars to follow her, which he did.

The two made an odd pair as they walked the streets of Lastation, anyone would have thought that as they saw a black haired girl with dark red eyes walking just ahead of a scruffy brown haired young man who carried two axes around his waists along with a sniper rifle attached to his back. The stares from passing people was enough for Uni to look down at the ground with slight embarrassment, Mars noticed this and quickly caught up with her in an attempt to get her spirits up. At least hopefully.

"Hey, there's no need to be embarrassed about me being near you, something like this shouldn't faze the CPU Candidate of Lastation," Mars told her as they turned around a corner. "What would your sister do in this type of situation?"

This only caused Uni to become gloomy, she stared at the ground and she began to walk more slowly until she stopped. Mars stopped walking and scratched the back of his head, confused at what was going on. "Um, you okay? Did I hit a nerve or something?"

Uni shook her head. "No, it's nothing."

"Clearly it is something. What's wrong?"

The Candidate sighed deeply as she played with her fingers. "Well, you're comparing me to Noire, everyone seems to do that with me. My sister is perfect, the ideal goddess, she's always looked up to and everyone always believes in her. Then there is me. I'm not perfect, I can't do anything right, I'm just a burden to everyone around me, not to mention that I… I… get smaller when I transform. I'm useless."

Mars raised an eyebrow before walking to Uni's side, to the Candidate's surprise the young man gently patted her head for a few seconds. "I don't think that's true, I've only known you for a day and you seem to have a few advantages over that Tsundere Queen," Mars reassuringly told her. "For a start you are an expert on guns, you're great at long range attacks, obviously you are not the same type of tsundere as your sister, plus you are looking out for me and no one that I have met has ever done that before."

Uni looked at Mars with a questioning expression. "Are you sure about that?"

Mars nodded. "I am completely and utterly sure, we may not have known each other for very long but I already know a few good points about you."

"You mean that?" Uni had a surprised yet happy expression, she hoped that what Mars said about her was true.

"Yes I do. Just remember, no one in this world is perfect, I'm a prime example of that." Mars then gently patted her head again, this time Uni blushed and looked back at the ground with a small smile on her face.

"Thank you, Mars," Uni said in an almost quiet voice.

"Your welcome. Oh, one last thing: size doesn't matter."

Uni blushed a deep shade of red and appeared flustered. "How can you think and say those kind of things without shame or embarrassment?"

"Simple: I barely have any emotions so I can say or do whatever I want without shame, embarrassment or remorse."

This confused Uni and she would have asked Mars about it if she didn't see the grim expression that was across his face, with a small smile the CPU Candidate tugged on his sleeve and motioned for him to continue following her to the Basilicom. With a nod Mars continued to follow Uni. After passing corners and walking down different streets the two of them arrived at the entrance of the Lastation Basilicom, Mars felt a sense of foreboding as he stepped through the entrance behind Uni, the guard on duty eyed Mars suspiciously but a quick glare from Uni was enough for the guard to return to his duties. As they approached the elevator the Candidate sighed and looked at Mars.

"Sorry about that, the guards are usually suspicious of anyone they don't know," Uni told Mars as the elevator door opened.

"It doesn't concern me," Mars informed the Candidate. "I've seen worse."

"Really? Actually, don't answer. I can imagine it."

Mars nodded and together the two of them entered the elevator, it didn't take long for the elevator to go up and arrive on the floor that Uni wanted, she then exited the elevator with Mars following her closely. Silence reigned over the two of them for what seemed like an eternity, that was until they arrived at the bathroom. Uni opened the grey door and revealed the interior of the bathroom, the walls were white as was the ceiling, the grey walls were covered in elaborate markings that ranged from swirls to other shpaes, there was a large steam bath in the centre with a shower to the side surrounded by glass panels, a few racks for towels were seen attached to one of the nearby walls. Mars looked at Uni with a questioning look.

"This is… fancy, to say the least," Mars said as he looked around. "Who uses this?"

"Me, Noire and Kei. The guards have their own homes in the city but for those who work overtime or have late shifts there is a smaller bathroom down on the lower levels," Uni informed Mars. "You can use either the bath or the shower to clean yourself up, there should be a few towels around here somewhere for you to use. I'll fetch a spare change of clothes for you, afterwards we'll get back to the Guild."

Mars nodded. "Alright then, thank you, Uni."

Uni blushed and glanced away. "I-It's nothing, really. I-I'm only doing this because you can't look after yourself, it isn't because I'm trying to be nice or anything."

"So you are tying to be nice, heh?"

The Candidate glared at Mars and pouted in a way that Mars found cute, much to his own surprise. "Sh-Sh-Shut up! Just do what you have to do already." It was then that Uni heard rumbling sounds coming from Mars' stomach. "Um, did you even have any breakfast before you left your makeshift home?"

Mars shook his head which only made Uni sigh. "I guess I'll have to make you breakfast as well, you owe me a lot, Mars."

"Yeah, guess I do. I'll find a way to pay you back, I promise."

"Well in that case, maybe you can… er, be my questing partner?"

"What do you mean by that?"

Uni became more flustered and her fingers began to twitch. "W-Well, we did pretty good yesterday working as a team, so I thought… er, maybe we could c-c-continue working t-together… oh forget I said anything."

Mars looked at Uni for a few seconds as she tried to recover herself, he then placed his hand gently on her head and patted her once more, to Uni it seemed quite affectionate. She looked straight Mars with a confused expression, then he spoke. "I would like to work alongside you, Uni, though you must be pretty lonely to want me working with you."

Uni couldn't decide whether to be happy or annoyed with Mars, so she decided to hit him on the head with a smile. "Just have a shower or something already, I'll be back with some spare clothes, then I'll make you breakfast" Uni said as she began to walk away.

Mars nodded and closed the bathroom door behind him, as he looked at the mirror he stared at his reflection and noted what he looked like – it had been a while since he took a good look at his face. "Nothing much has changed, I don't look any older than the last time I checked." He then began to remove his badly damaged clothes before turning the hot and cold taps of the shower on, Mars closed the glass door behind him and began to wash his body.

* * *

"Hmm, he wouldn't like this, nor this, not even this," Uni mumbled to her self as she searched through the draws and cupboards in the guard's changing room, it was the only place in the Basilicom that had clothing more males. As the Candidate picked up several different shirts, shorts, jackets and pants she threw them behind her into a pile, these were not for Mars to wear. "Damn it, I'm fairly sure nothing here is to his liking."

"To whose liking?" asked a voice coming from behind Uni.

The Candidate turned around and saw Kei standing in the doorway, the Oracle had her usual expressionless look on her face, her arms were crossed and from what Uni could tell Kei seemed a bit surprised.

"I'm trying to find some appropriate clothes for Mars, it's only temporary until he gets a set of clothes that are similar to his current attire. I thought the guards might have had something good enough for him but it doesn't seem so. Seems like I'll have to give him some clothes that he won't like after all."

"Sorry if I sound rude but why is he here? I thought he would have left for the Guild last night and went home after that."

"It turns out he was going to the Guild this morning, that and he spent the night in an abandoned factory on the outskirts of the city."

Kei appeared rather surprised. "An abandoned factory you say? Well that helps explain why he's here. Is there anything else you're doing for him?"

Uni glanced away appeared a bit flustered. "W-Well, I'm also making breakfast for him since he hasn't had any today."

Kei chuckled as she stood next to Uni. "Very well then, I will help you with getting clothes for Mars."

The Oracle knelt down and began to search through the footlockers for any suitable clothing. The process took some time for them to complete, but eventually the two of them found a pair of clothes that Mars might wear without any complaints. As Uni and Kei walked towards the bathroom door after they left the elevator they heard the sounds of yelling, it sounded like Noire was yelling at someone who's responses were somewhat muffled. Uni had an idea of what was going on, she quickly rushed over to see her older sister facing the door with her fist clenched tightly at her sides while her back was shot up straight, a snarling expression was on her face as she yelled at the person behind the bathroom door. As Uni quickly approached with Kei behind her Noire turned around to growl at her younger sister.

"Just what the hell were you thinking, Uni?!" Noire yelled, causing Uni to back off a bit. "Why did you let _him_ back in the Basilicom?!"

"Because he needed help, that's why," Uni replied as she regained her posture. "He still has the same damaged clothes from yesterday, he spent the night in a ruined factory outside the city, he needs help and I'm going to give him that."

Kei was surprised at the tone of Uni's voice, it was filled with conviction and determination, the Oracle had never seen Uni be so confrontational towards Noire about one person before. Kei believed that Mars had stirred something within the Candidate that made her more like this, and the Oracle of Lastation believed that it wasn't a bad thing, so far it seemed to have given Uni confidence. Noire, however, seemed shocked and tried to rationalise it, but no thoughts came to mind.

"Why are you helping Mars though?" Noire asked more subtly.

"I'm not doing this for free you know, he owes me big time and for that I intend for him to be a questing partner, he's already agreed to that."

Noire sighed and seemed to have lost the fight. "Next thing you'll say is that you want him to live in the Basilicom." The sheepish expression from Uni was enough of an answer for the CPU. "You're serious? You want Mars to live in the Basilicom?"

Uni blushed and glanced away for a few seconds before her eyes turned back to Noire. "Um, w-w-well… sort of, yeah. Look, he hasn't got a proper home to live in so I think the Basilicom could suit him."

"Me? Live under the same roof as the Ice Queen? Hell no," Mars commented from the other side of the door.

"Just shut up already!" Uni yelled at Mars, causing the young man to stay silent. "I'm doing this for your own good, so you better appreciate it!"

Noire glanced at the bathroom door before returning her gaze to Uni, the CPU sighed and crossed her arms as she stared at her younger sister. "Alright then, I give in, Uni. He can stay here, but that means he has to work hard. If you need me I'll be in my office checking over some old records as well as paperwork. Kei, you're with me."

Kei nodded and gave the small pile of clothes to Uni before heading off with Noire, when they left her sight Uni knocked on the bathroom door. "Can I come in, Mars?"

"Yeah, I'll unlock it first," came the response.

Soon enough Uni heard the clicking sound from the lock, she turned the door handle and entered the bathroom to see Mars standing near her with a white towel around his waist. His hair was wet and messy, his arms were crossed and a frowning look was on his face, the scars on his chest and back were bear for all to see. Uni tried to look away but couldn't help but glance a few times, this did not escape Mars' notice however, he merely sighed in response as he was handed the clothes.

"S-Sorry, Mars, it's hard to not look," Uni explained in a quiet tone.

"Yeah, I know, I don't blame you," responded Mars.

As he turned around Uni noticed something odd that was faintly marked around the lower area of his left shoulder, from a distance someone might have marked it as another scar but now that Uni was close enough to see it she realised that the marking was not a scar. Mars noticed Uni staring at the strange mark and looked down to see it before glancing at the Candidate. "It's nothing important," Mars reassuringly told her.

"Sorry, Mars, but it looks like something weird. What is it?" Uni asked.

"I wish I knew that, but it seems that I don't know everything about me." Uni could see the downcast expression on his face, he seemed gloomy to say the least. "Anyway, you better leave… unless you want to see a naked young man for the first time."

Uni's cheeks were completely covered in a deep shade of red as she processed his words through her mind. "I-Idiot! Why are you such a pervert?!"

"I'm not a pervert!"

"Oh yes you are! First there was the incident where you had your mouth underneath my butt, of course there was that moment afterwards when you commented on my butt, then there was earlier this morning when you told me that size didn't matter and then just now. You are a pervert!"

"I am not! That whole mouth-under-butt incident was completely your fault, then that comment about your butt was merely a tease plus I was reassuring you the truth that size does not matter at all, as for just now… well, I was just teasing you again. None of those things make me a pervert."

"Hmph, whatever. I'm leaving now, you better not take too long getting changed while I make breakfast." Mars nodded at Uni as she left the bathroom and closed the door behind her, leaving Mars behind to start putting on his new clothes. As Uni walked towards the kitchen the Candidate's thoughts turned to the strange markings on Mars' left arm, as she imaged the mark in her head it took on the form of a dragon.

 _But why a dragon of all things? Mars said he doesn't know a thing about it, and I think he means it. Does this dragon mark have something to do with the scars all across his body? Guess I'll never know._

* * *

It took a while to find it but after some searching Mars entered the kitchen, he was wearing a black collared shirt with the symbol of Lastation on the upper left area of the shirt, he was also wearing light grey shorts and his old boots, fingerless black gloves with small steel pieces over the knuckle adorned his hands. A belt was worn around his waist where his two axes were strapped while his sniper rifle was slung over his back, his brown hair was still somewhat scruffy but it appeared to be more neat and tidy, his blue eyes looked around the black and grey walled kitchen where he saw Uni standing around the kitchen bench. The CPU Candidate was putting fried rice into a small bowl, steam rose from the food and from what Mars could tell it smelt pretty good.

"Hey there," Mars greeted Uni as he approached her. "Thanks for the clothes, even if they aren't exactly the same."

Uni stopped what she was doing and looked at Mars. "Well nothing can go the way you want it to you know. Anyway, your breakfast is ready."

"Aren't you having any?"

Uni shook her head. "I had my breakfast before I went to the gun store."

"Alright then, if you say so."

Mars then picked up the steaming bowl with the fried rice, he looked at it and saw that it also had a large variety of vegetables and some sort of sauce, from what he could tell it appeared to be healthy. Mars picked up a pair of chopsticks and began to dig into his meal, he munched on some rice and vegetables and swallowed it. Uni stared at him with her eyes full of hope, she was concerned about whether Mars would like the food or not. Mars looked at her and gave her a thumbs up.

"I like it, thank you, Uni," Mars told Uni.

The Candidate beamed happily and would have jumped in the air with happiness if she was that energetic, at any rate she was very happy with what Mars told her. "Your welcome, I'm just glad you like my cooking, I'll admit I was a bit nervous about what you would say about it."

"Well it is good, thank a lot." Despite not smiling Uni could see that Mars was grateful and might actually be happy." You know, you're the first person who has actually been this generous towards me, I'm grateful for that."

"Seriously? No one has been kind to you?"

"Well, I suppose I do have what you would call an 'evil aura' around me, I guess that just keeps people away, it would also explain why that tsundere sister of yours doesn't trust me either. But for some reason… well, you're different." Mars then continued to eat away while Uni blushed a little before looking away.

"Wh-What do you mean by 'different'?"

Mars swallowed the food in his mouth before speaking. "Well for a start you've managed to stay around me for this long which is an amazement, then you're helping me with clothing, food and now living spaces. You're the first person to help me out like this."

Uni looked back at the young man, her cheeks coloured in red as her arms went behind her back. "I-It's nothing really, I'm just helping out a potential asset is all."

"Whatever, mini tsundere."

"I'm not a tsundere! Nor a mini one for that matter!"

Mars ate the last of the food before placing the bowl on the bench. "Yeah, yeah, whatever. Again, thanks for the meal, I enjoyed it."

A smile crept back onto Uni's face as she looked away with slight embarrassment. "Th-Thanks, I'm glad you liked it."

Their touching moment was interrupted by someone entering the kitchen, it was Noire and much to Mars' and Uni's surprise the patron CPU of Lastation was carrying a pile of paperwork and documents. "Finally found you two, good," Noire said as she dumped the paperwork and documents onto the nearby table, she then turned her attention towards Mars. "You, we've got some things to discuss."

Mars eyed her suspiciously before shrugging. "This better be worth it," he said as he sat down on a seat at the table.

Noire followed suit and sat down on the other side of the table, Uni did the same but instead chose to sit nearer to Mars. Noire eyed Mars and placed several sheets of paper in front of him. "Since you're going to be living here and working alongside Uni I decided to check the records to see if your name appears anywhere, turns out your name is not on any records, that means you are not a legal citizen of Lastation. However, because of all the things that Uni is doing for you I have decided to give you the option of becoming a citizen of the greatest nation in all of Gamindustri. I-I'm not doing this for you or anything so don't get any weird ideas!"

Mars raised an eyebrow at that last remark but decided to concentrate on the proposal at hand. "Sure, I suppose so."

Noire eyed Mars suspiciously once more. "Hmm, you don't seem excited, whatever. Just fill out these forms and give them to me once you're done, then I'll get them processed so you can be an official citizen with all the rights that come with it."

"What sort of rights come with citizenship?"

"Not important, just fill out the forms already."

Noire gave Mars a pen and watched as the young man began to read and fill out form after form, she noticed how he took his time looking at each form before signing them. The whole process took at least ten minutes or more before Mars handed the signed paperwork to Noire. "There, all finished," he said as he leaned back.

"Are we all done here, Noire?" Uni asked her older sister.

"For now, yes," Noire replied as she stacked the signed paperwork neatly into one pile.

Uni smiled as she stood up out of her seat. "Come on, Mars, let's get to the Guild."

The young man nodded before standing up, as the Candidate left the kitchen Mars was about to follow her but a hand tightly gripped his right shoulder, he turned around to see Noire with a death stare. "If my little sister gets hurt out on any quests I will hold you responsible, then you will wish that you were never born. Are we clear?" Noire threatened.

"Sometimes I wish that I was never born, so there's no need to tell me twice," came the reply as Mars walked off once Noire's hand went back to her side. The CPU of Lastation wondered why Mars said that he wished he had never been born, but after a few seconds of thought she shrugged, picked up the paperwork and returned to her office.

* * *

The day went swiftly by when Uni and Mars returned to the Guild to turn in the S rank quests that had been completed the day before, then Mars decided to split the reward with Uni 50-50, the Candidate tried to refuse the offer but finally gave in when Mars just handed the credits to her. Since they were already in the Guild Uni and Mars went to do another quest, this time it was more simple: exterminating a small dogoo population to the south-west. It didn't take long for them to complete despite the number of times Mars got his axes stuck in the dogoo's slime, not to mention how a few of the creatures attempted to jump onto Uni to dissolve her clothes, Mars had contemplated on letting those dogoos do what they want but after giving some thought on the subject he quickly decided that Uni would probably want to kill him afterwards. This meant that the young man had to save the CPU Candidate from the perverted dogoos.

Once they returned to the Guild and handed the completed quest over the day seemed to have gone quickly, meaning that by the time Uni and Mars had left the Guild for the day the time was around past 5 pm. Mars looked up at the sky and sighed. "Guess I'm not getting any more clothes for the day," mumbled Mars.

"Sorry about that," Uni apologised. "We can take a look at the clothing shops tomorrow if you'd like."

"Sure, I wouldn't mind that." As they passed a corner the gun store that Mars and Uni were at during the morning came into sight, from the look of it the store seemed to still be open. "Hey, Uni, the gun store is still open, want to take a look?"

Uni's face lit up and a smile appeared across her face. "Yeah, sure thing. You still need some improvements to that old sniper of yours. Come on."

They crossed the street and entered the store, the owner noticed the two of them enter and merely nodded as they came into view, with that Uni and Mars walked down pass the different shelves and tables to look at the weapons available as well as any parts that could upgrade Mars' sniper rifle. The whole process took quite some time but in the end Mars didn't find anything that he thought would be useful, except for a new scope. Uni, however, picked out quite a few things that she thought would make Mars' sniper be the best in the city. These include a new trigger, nozzle and a hand grip, together the two of them brought the parts and left the store to head back to the Basilicom.

When Uni and Mars returned to the Basilicom and arrived on the floor that housed the rooms for Noire, Uni, Kei and now Mars the two of them found Kei waiting for them outside the elevator. "Good to see you two again," Kei greeted them.

"Hi there, was there something you needed, Kei?" Uni ask as she and Mars walk out of the elevator.

"Yes, there is something. I am to show Mars to his room so he knows where he will be sleeping, on a side note I heard that Noire got the citizenship forms processed through and now you are a citizen of Lastation, Mars. Congratulations."

"Um, thank you, I suppose," Mars said with uncertainty. Kei ignored it and began to walk down the corridor, Mars and Uni quickly followed the Oracle until they reached an open door, inside was a room with black walls, a grey carpet and a mix of black and white bedsheets, the bed itself was pretty big, a table was tucked away in a corner of the room and there was a window positioned near the bed, a large wooden closet was in another corner of the room. Altogether the bedroom was spacious and rather homely.

"I hope the room is to your liking," Kei said.

Mars nodded in approval. "I like it, thanks a lot."

Uni and Kei swore that they saw Mars' mouth start to form into something like a smile, but the muscles fought against it, although he did seem rather happy. "No need to thank me, Noire was the one who chose this room for you. You should thank her."

"Really? She chose this room for me? Guess she isn't as cold hearted as I thought."

Uni and Kei chuckled. "You'll have the opportunity to thank her during dinner, it's being served in an hour."

Mars nodded before Kei left, this left Uni alone with Mars. She looked around his new room and found it rather nice. "It seems like everything in here was just cleaned before we got back, even the bedsheets have been ironed and washed to perfection," Uni pointed out.

"You sure?"

"Positive, I guess Noire must be trying to get on your good side. She isn't as cold as you think she is you know."

"It seems like it."

* * *

Dinner was basically left over curry from the night before, Noire and Mars voiced how delicious it was which made Uni blush with embarrassment. By 8:30 PM Mars was standing outside on a balcony on the residence floor, the young man was staring at the night sky with his hands behind his back. Everything around him was peaceful and silent, that was until he heard the door behind him open. The young man turned around and saw Uni on the balcony.

"Hi, Mars, what are you doing out here?" Uni asked as she approached Mars.

"Oh nothing much, I'm just stargazing is all," Mars replied.

"Oh right, I forgot that stargazing was a hobby of yours." The Candidate then stood next to the young man and together the two of them looked up at the stars above. "Why do you like stargazing anyway?"

Mars sighed and seemed more distant than before. "Sometimes I wish I was a star, just being up in the night sky everyday, not caring about whatever goes on in the universe. A peaceful life… something I never had."

Uni could see the sadness all over his face, with care she put her right hand on his left shoulder to comfort him. "Hey, don't worry about anything, understood? I may not know what you have been through but Noire, Kei and I are here now, if you ever want to talk about anything come see us, or just me if you're uncomfortable with talking to anyone else."

As Uni turned around to return to her room she was stopped by Mars. "Wait," he said quietly. The Candidate stopped and turned around to see Mars turn around, the young man then walked up to her and pulled her into a tight hug.

"M-M-M-Mars?! Wh-Wh-Why are you hugging me?!" Uni stammered.

"To thank you for all that you have done for me today," Mars replied, this only made Uni blush madly as she stammered, eventually she started to calm down and returned the hug.

"I-I-It was nothing, really."

"It may mean that to you, but to me it is more than I deserve. Thank you."

"Y-You're welcome, Mars." The two eventually let go of each, Uni was still blushing while it appeared that Mars had a tinge of red in his cheeks. "A-Anyway, I'm going to bed, I'll see you in the morning."

"Right, see you in the morning, Uni, sleep well."

"Yeah, you too."

As Uni re-entered the Basilicom she turned around and saw Mars pull a small leather bound book out of his left boot and a pen out of his right boot, he then opened the small book and began to write in it. The Candidate decided to leave him be and head for her bedroom. With all that happened during the day Uni felt quite happy with the results, she now had a questing partner whenever Nepgear wasn't around and she had seen a different side to Mars, it might have been just a day since they met but Uni already felt happy with him around. She couldn't wait for all the future quests that they were going to do together.


	6. Spiralling Anger

**Chapter 5: Spiralling Anger**

A bright, early yet cold morning dawned over Gamindustri, but it was especially bright in Lastation due to the lack of clouds, a far cry to the day before yesterday. It was around seven in the morning and the Lastation Basilicom was full of life, guards went back and forth across hallways, storages and entrance duties, Noire was in her office signing fresh paperwork while Kei was setting up a meeting between the various business companies throughout the country. Yet in one certain hallway there appeared to be no life, and in one of these rooms slept a very sleepy Mars, the young man had returned to his room after the stargazing session and the touching moment he had with Uni – that particular moment was still on his mind. Yet the hallway and his room were about to get a bit more livelier.

Uni walked down the hallway while holding what looked like a black version of the N-gear in her left hand, the screen was lit up and it looked as if there was someone on the screen waiting patiently for something. The CPU Candidate walked up to Mars' door and knocked on it three times, yet there was no response from the other side, she then tried again, and again, and again. Eventually Uni let out a growl and tapped her foot on the ground impatiently, it was clear to her that Mars was still asleep. Mars had agreed to be Uni's questing partner and one of the requirements was that the young man had to wake up early to go out on any quests that the Candidate had picked out, but there was one thing that Uni had not taken in account: the feeling of wanting to stay in bed.

Uni, in fact everyone in the Basilicom, was unaware that Mars had never slept in a bed his whole life, at least a proper bed anyway. Because of this the young man was sleeping peacefully for the first time in years, and he was not prepared to get out of this new comfort just to commit to a promise. At any rate Uni had been waiting outside Mars' door for over ten minutes and her patience was running very, very thin. This was when the person on the mobile device spoke to the Lastation Candidate.

"Are you alright, Uni?" the voice asked.

"No, Mars isn't answering the door and my patience has almost evaporated," Uni replied in an annoyed tone.

"You shouldn't worry about it, Uni, from what you've told me about him it sounds as if he's been through a lot."

"Hmm, yeah, I do wonder if he's ever slept in a proper bed before. Probably not I'm guessing. Still, he promised that he would be my questing partner so he has to wake up and get out of bed, even if I have to force him to do so."

"If you say so, just don't be too rough with him."

Uni shrugged before placing her right hand on the doorknob, she gave it a turn and was surprised when the door opened." Guess Mars didn't lock the door before he went to sleep," Uni mumbled as she walked inside Mars' room.

Everything inside Mars' room appeared the same as it had the previous day, nothing much had seemed to change, except that there was a sleeping young man in the bed as well as two axes and a sniper rifle leaning up against the bed frame. Mars didn't appear to be snoring, in fact there wasn't a single noise coming from him, the only way Uni could tell he was sleeping and wasn't dead was that his chest rose in a very slow rhythm. The young man seemed almost dead if one was looking at him from a distance. The Candidate approached the bed and looked down at Mars, he seemed to be sleeping peacefully at least. The young man was laying on the left side of his body with his head on a white pillow, his right hand was laying in front of his face while his left appeared to be underneath the pillow, a distant and expressionlessness look was on his face. It also appeared as if Mars was wearing the clothes he was given the previous day.

Uni stood next to Mars' bed and then began to poke his right cheek a bit forcefully, yet this did not stir the young man out of his sleep. Uni pouted and decided to be a little more rough, this time the CPU Candidate brought her right fist straight against his head swiftly, surprisingly this didn't wake him up, at first anyway. As Uni was about to bring her fist down upon Mars' head once more the young man woke up with a somewhat grumpy expression.

"If you wanted me to get up couldn't you have found a better way to do so?" Mars asked the Candidate as he sat up.

"S-S-Sorry! It's just that you didn't wake up is all," Uni apologised.

"Um, were you a bit rough after all, Uni?" the voice from the mobile device asked the Candidate.

"Yeah, guess I was," Uni replied to the voice.

Mars looked confused and stared at the mobile device that Uni held in her left hand. "Uh, what's going on?" Mars aasked. "Who're you speaking to on that… thing?"

"Huh? Oh, this is a Lastation version of the N-gear, it's like a mini TV with a phone added to it. Oh, I should introduce you to the person I'm speaking to." Uni then gave the N-gear to Mars. "Mars, meet Nepgear, CPU Candidate of Planeptune."

"Hi, it's nice to meet you, well, see you I suppose is the correct term," Nepgear greeted Mars. The young man was staring at a fair-skinned girl with long lilac-purple hair with some loose strands of long hair curling down, her bangs appeared to be neatly brushed. Her eyes looked to be of an amethyst colour, her outfit – from what Mars could see of it – resembled a school uniform consisting of a white jacket-dress with purple lining that had thin double white stripes, a white choker and a pale yellow ribbon with an N in the centre. Mars could not see what was any lower due to the screen of the N-gear.

"Hello, Nepgear, I'm Mars," Mars greeted back.

"You look just about the same as Uni's description…" the CPU of Planeptune was then cut off by Mars, he did not sound happy however.

"What? What did Uni say about me?" Mars eyed Nepgear sternly before turning his gaze directly at Uni, the Lastation Candidate backed off a bit and grimaced.

"Oh nothing much, she just told me a bit about you is all. Uni told me about your appearance and that you're very strong in combat."

"Was that all she said?"

Nepgear nodded to which Mars sighed with relief. "Thank goodness."

"Huh? What do you mean by that?" Nepgear asked the young man.

"Oh nothing. Anyway, it's been good talking to you, Nepgear."

"You too, Mars… what the goodness?!"

Suddenly Nepgear was tackled to the ground and Mars' view of her was gone, instead he was left staring at the creamy ceiling of the Planeptune Basilicom. Uni walked over to him and looked down at the N-gear before resuming her gaze at the young man. "Did you do something to frighten her?" Uni asked sternly.

"Of course I didn't!"

"Says you!"

That was when both Mars and Uni heard a cheerful voice speaking through the speaker of Uni's N-gear. "Whoa, sorry 'bout that my dear Nep Jr, didn't mean for you to hit your head that hard on the ground."

Mars stared at the hyperactive newcomer who's face was now pressed up against Nepgear's N-gear. "Ooooo, hey there, how are you?" she asked Mars.

Mars stared at the face with a confused expression, his gaze then fell upon Uni. "Um, who is this chirpy person?"

"That's Neptune, the patron CPU of Planeptune and Nepgear's older sister," Uni responded as she sat down next to Mars.

Neptune backed off and carried her sister's N-gear until she sat down on a couch next to her younger sister, who appeared to be still recovering from the tackle that Neptune inflicted upon her. From what Mars could see of Neptune she appeared to be a fair skinned girl with light purple amethyst eyes and a matching shade of hair, it looked around shoulder length with somewhat messy bangs with strands sticking up and few framing her face, she was wearing two game pad-shaped hair clips that were coloured white in her hair. Her outfit was a big white hoodie-like dress with purple striped cuffs, lining, and a purple hood, it had pale, ice blue and light lilac accents as well as a zipper section, two big round pockets, a big zipper with an N on it, and strings resembling a plug. Around her neck she wore a simple white choker. Mars had a better view of Neptune due to the chirpy goddess holding the device further away.

"Wait a moment, you're Mars aren't you?" Neptune asked.

"Yeah, that's me. Did Uni tell you about me as well?"

Neptune shook her head. "Nah, I heard that tomboyish Kei and Histy talking about you a day or so ago."

"Is that so? What did they say about me?"

Neptune beamed a bright smile and didn't seem to notice the dangerous tone that dripped from Mars' words. "Oh nothing much at all, just that you had some sort of strange power or whatever and now Histy wants to meet you whenever you feel like it."

"Is that so? Hmm, that can wait I suppose, it'll give me some time to think over it. Anyway, I better get going, got things to do and quests to complete."

"Alrighty soldier, you do what you gotta do, I'm gonna play some games."

It was at this point when Nepgear interjected. "Er, Uni, do you mind if I come along with you and Mars when doing quests? I mean we haven't completed a quest for some time now."

Uni chuckled at Nepgear and smiled at her through the mobile device. "Sure thing, but you better get over here quickly if you want to do some missions with us."

"Really? Awesome."

"Hold on a second! I want to come too, I haven't seen the almighty tsun for a while now, I bet she's practically dreaming of me every night. Oooo, how lewd, hehehehehehe…" Neptune interjected.

"Um, Neptune, Histoire was going to get you to do some work today though."

"I know, that's why I wanna go with you, my dear little sister. Besides, Histy loves doing all the paperwork anyway."

Uni sighed and shook her head, this caught Mars' attention as he turned around and gazed at the Lastation Candidate with a raised eyebrow. Uni looked back at him and shook her head, denying the young man a proper answer, although he was guessing the answer to his question, which was 'what does Neptune mean by that?'. His thoughts were then distracted by noises coming from the other side of the N-gear, it sounded as if there was someone else about to enter the conversation, this seemed to get Neptune in a frenzy. "Oh nep, we gotta go!" Neptune quickly informed Uni and Mars before the signal was lost, leaving the Candidate and the young man staring at a blank screen.

"What an odd pair," Mars said to Uni. "You sure that Nepgear is the younger sister?"

Uni nodded. "Yep, just about everyone asks that question at some point. Honestly, Nepgear would do better as the patron CPU of Planeptune instead of that lazy, pudding obsessed Neptune."

"Funny, you seem to hold your friend in high regard."

"Wh-Wh-What do you mean by that? I-I don't hold anyone in high regard, no one."

"Whatever, but she seems to be a good friend of ours at any rate."

Uni looked down at the ground and smiled as her cheeks became filled with red. "Yeah, I guess she is." The Candidate then stood up and made her way to the door before she looked back at Mars. "I'd tell you to go and get changed but you're still wearing the same clothes from yesterday, that's kinda unhygienic you know."

Mars glared at Uni and yawned loudly before speaking. "What choice did I have? It was either this or I slept naked, and personally I'd rather not go through that again."

"Again? What do you mean again? Wait, don't tell me, I would rather not know."

"Good. Anyway, what's for breakfast?"

Uni pouted and crossed her arms as she looked away. "Nothing from me, you have to cook it by yourself. I'm not going to make you breakfast everyday you know."

"Pity, I do like your cooking." Mars got up and stretched his back and arms out, letting out loud cracking noises as he did so. "But if you insist that I have to make my own breakfast then I will, just be ready to rebuild your kitchen several times."

Uni became worried after hearing that last remark as Mars stepped out of the door and into the hallway, the Candidate quickly caught up with him and together the two of them made their way towards the kitchen, which happened to be on another level entirely. Along the way there Uni learned that Mars did not know how to cook and would not even try to attempt it, not even if his life depended on it. When the Candidate asked how Mars had gotten around through his life without cooking he replied that he had scrounged for food and water, this amazed and horrified Uni. As they reached the kitchen the smell of cooked food came to them as well as the sounds of someone happily humming, Mars and Uni looked at each other and shrugged before quietly stepping through the doorway and into the dining area, there they saw what appeared to be Noire wearing her usual attire and a black apron with white strips.

Noire's back was turned away from her younger sister and the young man, therefore she was blissfully unaware that they were watching her as she hummed away, the CPU bent down and fiddled with the stove switches and began to chuckle. Mars averted his gaze in case he happened to see Noire's panties, although he wouldn't have had much of a choice as Uni was glaring sternly at him to make sure he didn't do anything perverted. Noire straightened her back and sighed.

"Ah, I think it's going well," the senior CPU mumbled to herself. "I hope the eggs don't get burned – oh what am I saying, of course they won't, I am cooking them after all. I wonder if Uni has eaten already? Probably, but I think she might have seconds. Then there's Mars… nah, he can cook for himself. No, that's rude, I shouldn't say that, although Mars does deserve to get nothing."

"And why is that? Is it because you're a tsundere bitch queen?" Mars asked in a rude tone, his arms were crossed and a deathly glare came from his eyes.

"Wh-Wh-Wh-What?!" Noire shouted as she turned around and noticed Mars and Uni watching her. "How long have you two been watching me? And what do you mean by 'tsundere bitch queen'?!"

"We've been watching for a minute, and you are a tsundere bitch queen. You're always harsh whenever my name comes up and it pisses me off all the time."

"Is that all? Pathetic, grow up already."

"Same to you, bitch."

Noire growled viciously as she materialised her rapier while Mars snarled and gripped the handle of his sniper rifle, but what Noire said next hit him really hard. "Grrrr, you're such a damn idiot, why are you even bothering to live here?! You're worthless! You're nothing! Why don't you just leave and never come back?!"

Before Uni could try to defuse the situation a loud noise was heard, when the Candidate looked at Mars she saw the young man holding his sniper rifle at Noire, a small – almost invisible – mist of smoke emitted from the barrel of the weapon and a vicious look was on Mars' face, his eyes were glowing blood red. When Uni gazed at Noire she noticed that the senior CPU was frozen still with fear and stared in fright at Mars, behind her further to the right was a bullet hole in the wall. "That was just a warning shot, next one will be embedded in between those red eyes of yours," Mars warned before slinging his sniper rifle over his back and walked out of the kitchen, his footsteps from the hallway outside became quieter and quieter before he could no longer be heard.

Noire muttered unintelligible words as her sword disappeared, she then turned the stove off and slowly walking to the table where she sat down on a chair, the CPU slummed forward, her arms rested on the table and her head rested on her arms. She groaned and rested her chin on her arms, letting Uni see the saddened expression on the CPU's face. "Why did I have to say that?" Noire mumbled to herself. "I'm such an idiot."

Uni said nothing, instead the Candidate walked up to her older sister and patted her back. Noire looked up at her and sighed. "Uni, what should I do?" Noire asked her.

"Why are you asking me?"

"You know Mars better than I do, so I'm asking you what to do."

"Isn't it normal to apologise in these types of situations? You should do that."

Noire nodded in response before standing up. "Yeah, I guess you're right. Come on, we better get up and find him."

As Noire took off her apron and threw it on the table she walked over to the stove and looked down at the eggs she was previously cooking, the CPU sighed and put a cover over the frying pan before looking over at Uni. Come on, we can have breakfast later."

"Oh, I just remembered, Neptune and Nepgear are coming over, they should be here soon."

Noire sighed deeply and face palmed herself. "Seriously? At a time like this? I don't mind Nepgear but Neptune is annoying. Why are they coming here anyway?"

"Nepgear wanted to accompany me and Mars for a few quests while Neptune wants to avoid doing work, again."

The senior CPU shook her head. "That damn Neptune, oh well, guess it can't be helped."

A guard came running into the kitchen, panting deeply as she leaned up against the door frame, the guard looked at Noire with a mix of a shocked and worried expression. "Lady Black Heart, are you alright? I heard something akin to a gunshot coming from here."

"I'm fine, nothing to worry about. Have you seen Mars by any chance?"

The guard nodded nervously. "Yes, my lady, he has left the Basilicom by… extraordinary means."

Uni raised an eyebrow at that answer. "What do you mean by that?"

"Well, Mars left the Basilicom by jumping of one of the balconies, he leapt off and landed on the ground in one piece, for some reason he was glowing with red energy before and after he landed. I don't know where he went afterwards though."

"Did he say anything?"

"Indeed he did, he said and I quote: 'I'm going for a walk, I may be some time'."

Noire groaned in annoyance. "Damn it. I guess we will have to go after him, actually we should wait for Neptune and Nepgear to turn up before heading out to find him." The tsundere CPU sighed and gazed down at the ground as the guard left. "I hope Mars can forgive me."

* * *

Mars strolled down the streets of Lastation, eager to put some distance between him and the Basilicom. The words that Noire had said to him in the kitchen had made him bitter and full of anger which was directed towards the CPU, an expression full of wrath and bitterness could be seen. There was also something else he felt, something he had not felt for two years ever since Project Mars fell apart: sadness. With his hands in the pockets of his shorts and his back slummed forward the young man groaned and began to regret what he did.

"Why did I do that? Noire may not have liked me before all this but now things are spiralling out of control. I shouldn't have done that," Mars mumbled to himself as he slummed his way down the street.

The streets of Lastation during that mildly cool morning were not as prosperous as they had been the previous day, or the day before that either. Many citizens were either still asleep or were at work, a few others were on holiday in different parts of Gamindustri. The few people who were roaming down the streets of the city paid little heed to the young man as he walked, although a few odd glances were thrown in his direction whenever they noticed the sniper rifle on his back and the axes on his belt, this did not bother Mars however. The brown haired young man roamed past a familiar street and came across the gun store Uni had sown him, he looked at it for a moment before sighing, the young man walked up to the store door and opened it. When Mars walked inside and closed the door behind him the store owner, who was sitting on a chair at the counter, look up and locked eyes with Mars.

"Hey, kid, weren't you with the CPU Candidate the day before?" the owner asked, his arms crossed before him and an expression full of wonder.

"Yeah, I'm that same guy," Mars replied as he walked pasted the counter, his eyes still locked on towards the owner. "Is that a problem?"

The owner shook his head and chuckled lightly. "No, no of course not. It's just that in all my life running this store I have never seen Lady Uni out shopping for gun parts with anyone like you. Usually she's just by herself or with Lady Nepgear, and I must admit, you're not the kind of person I though the CPU Candidate of Lastation would choose to be with when going out to do mission or buying weapons."

"Is it that strange to see Uni with another person besides the Candidate of Planeptune?"

"So you address her without formalities, interesting. As for your question, all I can say that it is odd for her to be with anyone besides her friends, and I hope for the Candidate's sake that she didn't stuff up her choice in companions. You've got the look of a killer, you better not bring any trouble of any kind to Lady Uni. Understand?"

"Crystal clear."

"Good."

With the conversation over Mars walked away down the different aisles of the store to see what was to offer, but as the young man looked at all the weapons, ammo and different pieces of weaponry he kept thinking about what the owner had said to him just before. 'You've got the look of a killer', those words were true. Mars was a killer, he had killed numerous people that were related to Project Mars for the last two years. The blue eyed killer had developed an uncaring nature due to these killings, whenever he found someone related to Project Mars the young man would go over to the person's location and discretely kill them, no matter how it happens, but after doing it for two years it all began to take a toll on him, namely his emotions. Mars picked up a shiny barrel that would have belonged to a long ranged rifle and stared at his dimmed reflection, his expressionless face stared right back at him. Yet despite not being able to show much emotions he could still feel it, and during the last two years Mars could only feel certain emotions, mainly anger.

"Heh, my anger certainly got me in the deep end this time," Mars mumbled to himself as he put the barrel down and began to continue looking around.

Mars found it odd but he started to take an interest in guns, he guessed it was due to is very short time around Uni. The young man chuckled as he began to think about her, it was true that the Candidate of Lastation was the only person to actually start looking out for him, it made Mars feel happy that there was someone out there who would help them, although he still did not quite understand the whole tsundere part, but that was acceptable to him. But with what had recently happened Mars had started to believe that not only was Noire incredibly pissed off at him but so was Uni, he sighed deeply at the thought before resuming his browsing.

As Mars walked past an aisle he came across a section of the store full of handguns, with his interests piqued he decided to take a look at the various guns for sale. Each and every single handgun was placed on a shelf or rack but they did not seem to tickle Mars' interests, that was until a minute later when he came across two pistols that were laid together side-by-side. The two handguns were of the same design and colour, they were a mix of black and white with the Lastation logo on either side of the handgun near the trigger, the handguns looked like berettas. The young man picked both up, spung them around for a few seconds and nodded his head, he had chosen his new favourite weapons of the day. Mars walked back to the store owner and placed the dual berettas on the counter, the young man had also found some ammunition for the guns as well as his sniper rifle.

The buying process didn't take long, in fact the owner appeared to be speeding up the process as if he wanted Mars out of his store, either that or he wanted some morning tea. With the dual berettas strapped to his belt and the spare ammo in a bag that was slung over his left shoulder the young man left the store and returned to the streets of Lastation. There were a few more people out and about now that the morning was growing older, but as Mars strolled down the street more people gazed at him, and not all the onlookers were gazing at Mars with the interest or wonder, mainly their looks were filled with suspicion. Mars did not care what they thought, instead he decided to ignore them and head for the Guild, he was out of money again.

When the young man walked past a cafes he noticed something strange that was perched on the gutter of the roof, he looked up and saw what appeared to be a crow, but on further inspection it appeared more like a raven, a big one. The black raven was almost as big as a crow and had dark green eyes, the large and unnatural raven was also staring at Mars. When the young man glared at it the raven did not blink, instead it remained silent before flying into the air and flew east. Mars growled and began to run after it.

 _There's something suspicious going on around here, I think that oversized raven was spying on me. If that's the case then I want to know why._

As Mars did his best to follow the animal the dark green eyed raven flew into an empty alleyway and landed on the cold, paved ground. As soon as it landed a dark green light enveloped the raven, the creature then began too grow into a human-like shape until the light went away, all that was left was a woman with dark green eyes, blonde hair, steel-cap boots, dark coloured pants and a zipped-up brown jacket, it was the same person who had kneed the man who wore the dark blue hooded coat. She panted for air and leaned on a nearby brick wall.

"Phew, that took a lot out of me," she mumbled to herself quietly. "Still, I better be ready in case that guy catches up. Strange, for some reason I feel as if I've seen him before, maybe even know him… oh well, guess it doesn't matter, I'll figure it out later."

She didn't have enough time for that however, a few moments later the sounds of boots against pavement could be heard nearby, several seconds later Mars ran into the alleyway, a glaring expression was on his face which began to disappear once he saw the green eyed woman. "Excuse me, have you seen an oversized raven with dark green eyes around here?" Mars asked her.

The blonde woman shook her head. "No, afraid not."

Mars raised an eyebrow at her before sighing. "Bugger this. Sorry for wasting your time."

"No, not at all. Sorry you lost your pet."

"I haven't got a pet, especially an oversized raven with dark green eyes. Huh, funny, you have the same eyes as it."

The woman gulped and became worried for her situation, she could tell that there was more to the young man than meets the eye, he gave off an unnatural vibe that made him seem evil. She had to talk her way out of it. "I-Is that so? Ravens don't have dark green eyes, you must be imagining things."

"Oh I don't think so, and for some reason I've got a feeling that you know something about it."

As Mars began to approach the green eyed woman she looked up and saw something flying nearby, Mars stared at her before looking up to see what she was gazing at, it appeared to his eyes that there was someone flying through the air at a slow pace. When Mars looked more carefully he recognised the flying person as Uni, or more accurately as Black Sister. With a surprised look on his face he turned around to face the blonde woman again, but when he did the young man found that the strange and suspicious woman had disappeared without leaving a trace. "What the hell? How did she get away?" Mars mumbled to himself.

Mars didn't have much time to think about it as he saw the CPU Candidate flying down to him, the silver haired young woman landed on the ground and stared sternly at Mars. "Why did you leave, Mars? Why?" Black Sister asked.

"Because I needed to get out of there, I couldn't stand being in the Basilicom any longer where you older sister was," Mars replied harshly.

"But why did you have to fire a warning shot?"

"To get her to shut her mouth, that sister of yours just kept going on about how worthless I am, how I shouldn't be around and such, I couldn't handle it. It's best if you just left me."

As Mars was about to walk away he felt Black Sister grab a firm hold of his right sleeve, the young man stopped and looked behind him to see the Candidate to see a solemn expression, she was looking down at the ground and wasn't able to bring her gaze at him, what she said next was almost quiet. "Mars' please, don't go. Please don't be mad at Noire, she's a good person but also has a hard time trying to get to know others, just give her a chance."

To Mars it sounded as if Black sister was sad, the expression on her face was a mix of it anyway. With a deep sighed Mars fully turned around and patted Black sister on the head gently, his response was a pouting look from the Lastation Candidate. "Come on, why do you always have to pout whenever I pat you?"

"Because it feels as if you're treating me like a child, I'm not one!"

"I never considered you as a child for your information. Anyway, I don't really want to go back to the Basilicom so if you'll excuse me I'll be leaving."

Before the young man could turn around and leave the Lastation Candidate walked up to him and wrapped her arms around his body, the top of her head moved until it was underneath his chin and her eyes closed as her face rested against the top half of his chest. This utterly surprised Mars, although he did the same thing the other night to show how grateful he was for Uni helping him for the day. "Please, if for nothing else just do it for me," Black Sister told Mars. "Please do this for me, Mars, please."

The brown haired man sighed and patted Black Sister on the head once more, she looked up with hopeful eyes and, to her amazement, the Candidate saw tinges of red in his cheeks and the corners of his mouth starting to form into a small smile. "Alright then, Uni, lead the way," Mars told Uni.

Feeling happy, yet also completely embarrassed, Black Sister quickly let go of Mars and beamed a bright smile at him while her cheeks coloured themselves red. "Alright then, let's get moving then," said Black Sister as she reverted back to human form. "Come on, follow me."

Mars nodded and together the two of them returned to the streets of Lastation and walked side-by-side, the two were now silent and could not think of anything to say. The situation stayed like this for a while before Uni gazed at Mars and began to speak, thus breaking the silence. "Hey, Mars, you have to apologise as well if you haven't already noticed. Oh, and keep the whole me hugging you thing silent."

"Um, sure, I can apologise to Noire, but why do I have to keep silent about us hugging?"

"B-B-Because it's embarrassing for me, that's why!"

"Sure, whatever."

The two of them then arrived at what seemed like some sort of outdoor restaurant, sitting by a white plastic table was Noire, Neptune and Nepgear. Neptune was the first to notice Mars and Uni. "Heya fellas, good to see ya all," Neptune shouted at them. "Hey, Noire, look who turned up."

The senior CPU of Lastation looked up and locked eyes with Mars, she quickly looked away and stared at the ground beneath her. When Mars and Uni walked up to the small group Uni apprached her older sister and tapped her right shoulder. "Hey, Noire, you alright?" Uni asked her.

Noire nodded but she seemed uncertain. "I think so, just leave it to me." The CPU then stood up and walked over to Mars, the two of them stared sternly at one another before Noire began to talk. "Mars, we may not have seen eye-to-eye with recent events and lately our views of each other have, er, spiralled out of control. I… I am sorry, Mars, I truly am sorry."

As Noire bowed her head down Mars sighed and patted the tsundere CPU's head gently. "I know, Noire, I really do. I'm sorry as well, I shouldn't have done what I did. If you want me to leave the Basilicom then I will, just say the word."

"Y-You don't have to leave if you don't want to, I-I-I don't mind having you around you know."

Uni smiled as Mars rubbed the back of his head, a somewhat happy expression had taken residence on his face. "Really? Alright then," Mars responded.

Nepgear chuckled while Neptune jumped into the air and almost tackled Noire to the ground. "Awesome! Now that we're all done and dusted with your touching moment how 'bout we get some food? I'm hungry," Neptune suggested to everyone as Noire regained her posture.

"Grrr, always thinking with your stomach aren't you?" Noire asked bitterly in response.

"Come on, there's loads of food here to eat, brighten up and order some already."

"Tch, fine, but only this once." Noire walked away from the group and into the restaurant to order whatever was there, Neptune sat back down on her chair and beamed happily at anything and anyone nearby, Nepgear remained silent but seemed happy nonetheless, Uni on the other hand was looking over across the street with a determined expression. The Lastation Candidate turned her attention back to Mars, who had sat down on a chair next to Nepgear on her left. "Mars, I'll be back soon," Uni told him before walking off across the street, she disappeared in the throng of people quickly.

"Uh, alright then," Mars muttered in response as the Candidate disappeared, he then turned his attention over to Nepgear who happened to be looking at him. "Um, what should I refer to you by?"

"Oh, call me Nepgear, everyone does," replied Nepgear. "You can call Neptune by her name as well if you want to."

"Sure, alright then. Hey,, mind if I ask you something?"

"Go ahead, Mars, I'm all ears."

"Ok then. Um, did Uni tell you about her opinion of me?"

"Hmm? Well, Uni isn't the type of person to tell how she feels about others, although, she did seem rather interested in knowing more about you."

"Is that so? Interesting. Does she have many friends?"

Nepgear scratched her chin thoughtfully before replying to Mars' question. "Uni does have a few friends, but not a whole lot, she is quite nervous around others if you haven't already noticed. Are the two of you friends?"

Mars shrugged. "I don't know, honestly I can't tell, I never even had a friend before."

"Really? Hmm, I guess you'll have to ask Uni about that one then. Hey, if you don't mind me asking but can we be friends? You seem interesting and you also get along well with Uni."

Mars looked stunned at the proposal, he sat on his chair with his eyes wide open and his jaw hanging down before he replied as best he could. "Y-Y-Yeah, sure, I wouldn't mind that at all."

Nepgear clapped her hands together happily as Noire returned with five glasses full of Nepsi (a Planeptune fizzy drink product) and a large bowl full of hit chips covered in small bits of salt, the black haired CPU placed the glasses and bowl – which were miraculously balanced well on her hands and arms – on the table. She looked around and noticed that her little sister was missing, she looked over at Nepgear with a questioning expression. "Nepgear, where's Uni?" she asked her.

"Uni said that she'll be back soon, that's all she said," Nepgear replied before picking up a chip and began to nibble away at it.

As everyone ate away at the chips and drank their Nepsi in silence, which were occasionally interrupted by Neptune, Uni returned to them with a plastic bag in herhands. Noire was the first to notice her return. "Where were you, Uni?" Noire asked.

"I-I was getting something, that's all," replied Uni as she approached Mars, she stopped next to him and presented the bag to the young man. "H-H-Here, this is for you."

"For me? I'm surprised," Mars replied with a surprised tone. As Uni pouted the young man looked inside the bag to see what appeared to be numerous amounts of clothes, including pyjamas and even a set of clothes that matched the attire he wore when he and Uni first met. Mars looked up at Uni and tried to smile. "Thank you, Uni, guess I still owe you."

"Yeah, you sure do." Uni then sat down next to Mars and began to eat what little chips there were left and drank away at her Nepsi, Noire looked over at Uni and Mars to see the two of them together with embarrassed yet happy expressions, it made the senior CPU break out in a small smile of her own.

Once everyone had finished eating and drinking they stood up and walked back out to the street, once there Noire glanced over at the Basilicom before returning her gaze back to everyone else. "Now then, I best get going, there's still a mountain of paperwork to fill out," Noire told everyone.

"Hold your horses, I'm coming with you," Neptune declared as she skipped next to Noire.

"And why is that, Neptune?"

"Cause you're a loner so I thought maybe I could cheer you up and all."

"What sort of remark is that?! I'm not a loner!"

"Whatever, Lonely Heart."

"Grrr! Tch, fine then, but you better keep out of my sight or there's going to be trouble." Noire then walked over to Mars and stared sternly at him as Neptune pranced around the street while Nepgear and Uni either sighed or chuckled. "Mars, you better make sure that you keep Uni and Npegear safe, especially Uni since she's my sister. If she even gets a scratch on her body I'll make sure you regret it."

Mars raised an eyebrow and looked confused. "What am I now, Uni's bodyguard?"

"You should be so lucky." Noire then smiled at Mars before walking back to her Basilicom with Neptune skipping at her side while carrying Mars' bags, the CPU Candidates of both respective countries chuckled at their older siblings as they went out of sight.

"So then, do you two want to complete a few missions at the Guild?" Mars asked the two Candidates. Both nodded their heads and together the three musketeers walked side-by-side down to the Lastation Guild, Uni looked at Mars as he stared straight ahead and smiled slightly.

"Hey, Mars, are we… you know, f-f-friends?" Uni asked the young man.

"I was going to ask that as well. I-If you want to then that's no problem."

Uni chuckled. "Great, I'm glad to have you as a friend, Mars."

"Same here, Uni, same here."

* * *

The blonde woman walked out of Lastation city and into the wilderness, when she arrived at a small patch of trees the dark blue coated man appeared from behind a tree and stared at his female companion. "Well? What information have you gathered?" he asked her.

"Not much, except for the fact that he's familiar, it's as if I know him from somewhere," the woman replied as she leaned up against a tree.

"Oh well, guess it doesn't matter. By the way, while you were gone in your raven form and spying on that guy I got a message from the boss, he said we're getting a mission and we have to return to base."

The woman sighed and shook her head. "Already? We barely got enough time for a break, now we have to go find some more of that damn red crystal stuff?"

"Of course we have to, it's all part of the project, the boss said so."

"That may be so but I heard the rumours surrounding the previous project: Project Mars. That didn't go down well you know. The only test subject, someone named Subject 13, that managed to get infused with that stuff went AWOL and slaughtered half the staff there before it was blown up, nobody knows what happened to him afterwards though."

The dark blue coated man chuckled malevolently as he raised his right hand, a dark red mist started to form around his hand and flew through the air around him, his piercing blue eyes turned blood red and his mouth formed into a devilish grin with sharp teeth that made the blonde woman back off a bit.

"Ah, but that is where this project will surpass that old rubbish," the man stated to her. "We shall be better, we shall be victorious. Project Ares will reign supreme across this world and the people will tremble before us! I should know, because I am the greatest of the boss's warrior, I am Ares. And if I ever meet this Subject 13 guy I'll rip him apart to prove how worthless he is!" The sky above them began to grow darker as Ares laughed like a maniac, never stopping and never caring.

* * *

 **A/N: Ooooo, looks like Mars has a new enemy that he isn't aware of, this ain't going to be pretty. And the new enemy – and project – also has a god of war name, did you realise that? Do you readers like the touching moments between Mars and Uni? If any of you readers has a suggestion about this then let me know, I'm eager to be informed about suggestions regarding this fanfic. Anyway, have a great day readers.**


	7. A Growing Menace

**Chapter 6: A Growing Menace**

"Hmm, this one? No, perhaps that one? Gah, it's too difficult to decide!" Uni grumbled as she searched through the list of possible Guild requests, each one seemed dissatisfying to her and thus the Candidate continued to look for a quest that she was keen on. Meanwhile Mars and Nepgear were standing further away, watching Uni get grumpier and grumpier.

"Is she usually like this whenever the two of you go on a quest together?" Mars asked the Candidate of Planeptune.

Nepgear chuckled and scratched the back of her head. "Sort of, she prefers to do quests that challenge her and make her strive to do better than anyone else, it usually ends with Uni getting into some sort of trouble."

"Thought so," Mars said, sighing and shaking his head.

After Noire and Neptune had parted away from the group and headed back to the Basilicom the Candidates of Lastation and Planeptune, along with Mars, made their way towards the Lastation Guild in a cheery mood. Mars was forced to listen to Uni and Nepgear banter between each other, both CPU Candidates talked about the current situation in both their respective countries – which was apparently all well – and then they talked about what they had been doing during that time period. Nepgear's tale about her life was rather uninteresting to her as the Candidate had to do most of Neptune's work as well as feed her constantly while attempting to continue her robot project, Uni told Nepgear about her time doing work alongside Noire and a few of the Guild quests she did by herself, then the Lastation Candidate told her friend about Mars, at least parts which the young man allowed. The Planeptunian Candidate took great interest in what information Uni divulged about, mainly to sate her curiosity.

Once the group arrived in the Guild Uni told Mars and Nepgear that she would be choosing the mission for the day, this left the other two by themselves with little to talk about. Uni looked around and gazed at Mars and Nepgear, the two appeared to be bantering in small talk as their conversations ended pretty quickly before being started up again after several minutes. The Lastation Candidate turned back to the computer screen in front of her and continued to scroll down the page for a suitable quest, yet none interested her.

 _Tch, this is annoying. I've got to find a quest that can prove my worth, one that can give Mars a challenge and one that can help improve Nepgear's skills, but none of them can provide all of those together. Oh, wait a minute, this one was posted just a few seconds ago._

Uni clicked on a mission link and read out what it said. "'Unknown robots running amok in southern region of Lastation, request help. Reward: 1,000 credits'. Huh, not bad, not bad at all. I'll hopefully get a chance to prove my worth, Mars gets a challenge and since it is robots we're dealing with Nepgear can salvage their parts for anything she needs. I better tell them."

The Lastation Candidate approached Mars and Nepgear, both of whom had stopped talking, and stood in front of them. "Hey, you two, I've found a quest for us to do," Uni informed them. "We're heading down south to some grasslands, apparently there's a few robots on the loose so we're gonna take them down. Th-That is if you want to of course."

Mars was not sure about it but he swore that Nepgear's eyes sparkled as she heard that there were robots around the place. "Robots? Really? That's so cool! I'll do it!" Nepgear said, she almost yelled in a happy tone.

"Hmm, I'm interested in seeing these robots for myself," replied Mars. "I wonder if they're related to those killachines we fought up north?"

"Guess we'll find out. Come on, let's accept this quest."

The group walked up to the registration counter and Uni began the quick process of talking to the receptionist to accept the quests, what made Mars suspicious was how the receptionist would always glance at him and would raise an eyebrow before looking back at the Lastation Candidate in front of her as well as the computer screen next to them. After much thinking and glancing Mars realised that the receptionist that was serving Uni at that moment was the same woman who had given him the S rank quests a few days earlier, although he wondered why she was always looking at him from time to time. It did not take long for Uni, Nepgear and Mars to be assigned to the quest at hand. After the receptionist nodded at uni the Candidate returned to Mars and Nepgear.

"Alright, are we good to go you two?" Uni asked.

"I'm good to go," Nepgear replied with a nod.

"Sure, why not," was Mars' reply.

Uni glared at the young man for a short moment before shrugging and sighing. "Whatever, Mars. Come on, let's get going."

* * *

The wind blew swiftly across the faces of the three figures flying in the sky, their hair swayed around the place as the wind picked up speed, to one figure the whole experience felt rather soothing. This was Mars' second time being in the air, well his third if one was to count him jumping off one of the Lastation Basilicom's balconies, and he had to say that it felt surprisingly calming. The young man glanced over at his right and left to see Black Sister on his right side and Purple Sister on his left side, both were holding his arms tightly as they flew over the land. Black Sister had a serious expression while Purple Sister had an untroubled look.

"Why so serious, Uni?" Mars asked her.

"Nothing, I'd rather stay focused on the mission ahead than worry about anything or anyone else if I were you," Uni replied, her eyesight focused on the land in front of her.

"I'm not worried about you if that's what you're implying, I'm just curious is all."

Black Sister glanced over at Mars and sighed in defeat. "Fine then, if you're so interested I'll tell you. I'm trying to keep my attention to the task ahead so I won't loose focus, I want to prove myself worthy by destroying as many of those robots as I can within a limited amount of time. You should do the same as well if you want to keep up with me."

Mars sighed and shook his head. "Seriously, this again? I thought I already told you that you don't have to prove your worth in a way that you believe will gain the praise of Noire, you've already proven it to me in my opinion."

The Lastation Candidate looked away from the young man and seemed depressed. "You just don't understand. I need to prove that I am worthy to be Noire's sister and the CPU Candidate of Lastation, I have to do this, I have to."

Mars would have tried to further reason with the Candidate of Lastation but logic dictated that it would have had no effect on her, therefore the young man turned his head away and sighed depressingly. He failed to notice Black Sister looking at him with a curious expression, that soon turned into a saddened look as she gazed at him before looking away. As this all happened Purple Sister listened and watched the conversation between Mars and Black Sister before noticing their expressions afterwards, the Planeptunian Candidate's thoughts were filled with ways on how to treat the situation between her two friends but nothing came to mind. Everyone's thoughts were interrupted by Black Sister when they came across some farmland.

"This should be far enough," the Lastation Candidate said, her eyes staring at the farmland before them in the ground.

With a nod from Purple Sister the two Candidates, along with Mars in their arms, surged downward in a slow speed. They gazed at the farmland, the small barns and the house that was located nearby, but there was something off about the scenery, something did not make any sense to the three of them. Where were the farmers? Where were the animals? There were not any birds around the area as well to add to the oddity. Once the group landed next to a large area of wheat the Lastation Candidate gazed at the surrounding area and glared with suspicion.

"This is too suspicious, there isn't anyone here as far as I can tell," Black Sister mumbled.

The Candidate of Planeptune clenched her fists and gritted her teeth before speaking. "Hello? Is anyone there? HELLO?"

"Be quiet, Nepgear!" Mars whispered harshly. "We don't know what may be out there waiting for us out there."

With silence reigning over the group the three of them ventured forth through the farmland and made their way towards the house, their weapons in their hands and stern expressions across their faces. Mars kept an ear out for any noises due to his sharp hearing, yet he heard nothing but the wind, this only made the young man even more wary of his surroundings. Black sister and Purple Sister were just as cautious as the three of them passed several farm tools and a wheelbarrow, Mars approached it and took a look at the ground.

"What are you doing?" the Candidate of Planeptune asked Mars.

"I'm trying to see if there are any tracks, if there are any then we might know what happened here," Mars replied as he carefully gazed at the ground.

"I am fairly sure that there isn't anyone here," Black Sister informed the group.

"Could it have been the robots?" Purple Sister asked her fellow Candidate.

The Lastation CPU Candidate merely shrugged. "I don't know, why don't you ask Mars? He might have something."

"As a matter of fact I do," Mars interjected. "See these markings on the ground? A few of them are tracks made by some sort of wheels, heavy ones from the looks of it, then there are these heavy footprints that are too large for a human. Then, of course, there is this." Mars picked up a piece of metal that was stuck in the ground among the grass, it was around the same size of his hand and once the young man turned it over a bullet fell out, he picked it up and hummed away. "Hmm, so it's a .308 round eh? Same ammunition as my rifle. Anyway, I think those rogue robots were hear not long ago and now the place is deserted, at least I think so."

"We better go search the house, just to be safe."

Mars nodded, agreeing with Black Sister's statement. "Alright then, you two can go check it out, I'll be over by those barns over there if you need me."

"Hey, since when did you give the orders?"

"Does it matter? Anyway, good hunting." Mars stood up and walked over towards the barns, he ignored the cold glare that emitted from Black Sister and wandered through the wheat field, his eyes kept a close watch on the ground in case something was there. As Black Sister grumbled and began to walk in the direction of the nearby house Purple Sister caught up with her and walked side-by-side with her.

"Hey, no need to get grumpy now, Uni," the Planeptunian Candidate said with a cheery tone. "Just imagine what these robots might be like. Perhaps they're built with an x-ray attachment or even night vision, or maybe even jet packs and laser machine guns? The possibilities are endless!"

The Lastation Candidate chuckled as she saw her companion's eyes brighten with pure excitement. "Well aren't you just an excited little kid now, eh? I hope what you're fantasising about isn't real."

As the two Candidates arrived outside the house they saw that the front door had been blown into hundreds of wooden pieces alongside small piles of stone, a large hole now replaced what had once been the front entrance. Black Sister and Purple Sister carefully entered the house to see a grizzly sight: the family of farmers who ran the farm were dead, torn apart limb from limb, one body – that of an unfortunate woman – had its insides sliced open and the guts had spilled onto the bloody ground. It appeared to be a family of five people, two middle-aged people who were likely parents, two teenagers between the ages of sixteen and eighteen, then there was the mutilated corpse of what looked like a nine year old kid. Purple Sister swiftly placed a gloved hand over her mouth to stop herself from throwing up while Black Sister merely gritted her teeth and looked away, she was sickened by the sight that was before her and her fellow Candidate, neither of them had seen such a sight before and they never wanted to again.

"This is sickening, utterly barbaric, so… I-I don't know what else to say," Black Sister mumbled, her eyes continuing to avert the grizzly scene.

"Did the robots to this?" Purple Sister asked, the contents of her stomach barely able to remain in her.

"I guess so, but who would command them to do this? I wonder, could it be the same person who designed those killachines? If that's true then there has to be some sort of conspiracy going on."

Before the two Candidates could leave the confines of the farmhouse a rumbling noise came from underneath the two of them from underground, they looked down to see cracks forming under their feet. They barely jumped out of the way to see a dark green mechanical figure burst out of the ground and fly directly into the air. The machine had a glowing, red eye in the centre of its rectangular face, large, thick yet manoeuvrable metal sheets covered the mechanical skeleton, its robotic arms and legs were thin, a small saw was in the place of its left hand while a steel plated fist was in its right, a small laser rifle was attached to its right arm and a jet pack was built into its back.

"Oh for the love of…" grumbled Black Sister as she and Purple Sister flew into the air, avoiding the laser fire.

Black Sister fired round after round but the robot was agile enough to avoid the hits, this made the Lastation Candidate pissed off as she dodged the robot's saw before managing to hit her mark. The mechanical menace was hit in the back of the neck at point-blank range, sending it crashing to the ground with a large thud. As it attempted to get back up Purple Sister entered the fray and fired a few rounds at the robot's jet pack, the damage received caused the device to explode in a fiery blast, the two Candidates flew higher into the air to avoid the blast and shielded their eyes. Once it was over they both looked down to see a charcoaled robot with missing legs and with most of its back completely missing, Black Sister looked over at her fellow Candidate and gave her a big grin.

"It may have been quick and strong but it didn't have our brains," the Lastation Candidate boasted pridefully. But her attention was soon interrupted by the sounds of gunfire coming from the barn, the Candidates glanced over to see Mars running across the grassy ground with berettas in his hands, empty bullet shells were spread across the field around him. His attackers were three robots who had a similar design as the one who had been smashed by the Candidates, except one of them was bulkier and had wheels for legs as well as missile launchers strapped onto its shoulders, and it looked as if it was ready to fire. Soon afterwards one missile was launched at Mars, who just managed to jump out of the way and into a few hay bales, the rogue missile flew past the Candidates and crashed into the farmhouse, the fiery inferno that followed after the blast burnt the family's remains as well as destroyed the house.

"Bloody hell. Mars! Hang in there!" Black Sister shouted as she and Purple Sister flew swiftly over towards the young man.

As for Mars, the young man had given up on using his bullets against the metal hide of his mechanical opponents, although his main concern was how he was going to disable, or more likely destroy, the missiles before he was blown asunder. Mars grabbed his two axes and, with his eyes glowing blood red, he charged at his opponents, more specifically the missile launcher robot. The mechanical enemy seemed to be surprised with this counter attack but were prepared for it nonetheless. As Mars swung his left axe at his designated target one of the other robots swung a sharp and bloodied blade at Mars, blocking the attack before the sounds of gunshots were heard. Mars was sent flying off away from his opponents to see a machine with a minigun attachment over its right shoulder and a chainsaw as both its arms, blood dripped off the deadly weapons. Mars looked down at his chest to see bullet holes all over him, blood dripped down his black shirt, then came a barrage of bullets from the minigun.

"MARS!" Black Sister yelled, tears began to form in the corners of her eyes.

The two CPU Candidates watched in horror as Mars was mowed down by the robot's minigun, the bullets kept hitting the young man all across his body, when Black Sister looked at him she saw his body standing up but it was just about ripped to shreds except for the head and a small area around the heart, both of which Mars appeared to be protecting at all costs. When the mechanical killer stopped its attack due to a lack of ammunition the bloodied and hole riddled body of Mars remained standing, his blood soaked the grass around them. Then, much to the shock of the Candidates – and even the robots – a red mist flowed out from Mars' body, it engulfed the young man all over, then to the amazement of everyone and everything Mar's body began to reconstruct itself to how it originally was before the minigun blasted him apart, his limbs grew back as did all his organs, even his blood had been regenerated, his clothes were tattered yet managed to cover some parts of his body, although the Candidates were given a good view of Mars' scars. The young man looked at the robots and a wicked grin formed on his face.

"You can't kill what can regenerate," Mars explained to them, his voice filled with anger. "Now then, let's dance!"

Brandishing his axes once more Mars charged forward at the robotic killers, this time his speed was quicker as was his attacks, he swung strike after strike, parrying blow after blow and even headbutted one of the robots. The mechanical killer with the missile launchers aimed at the young man and fired one missile out of the remaining five, but the missile never found its mark, it was destroyed by a vengeful Black Sister of Lastation, an angry expression was plastered across her face as she aimed her mighty weapon once more. " **EX Multi Blaster!** " Black Sister shouted as a bright beam shot forth into the missile launching robot, the attack smashed into the idle missiles and exploded, causing the machine to blast into many different pieces.

Purple Sister surged forward and parried one of the robot's attacks against Mars, the young man nodded a thank you to her, she returned it with a small smile. The Candidate swung her blade around and brought it towards the robot's neck, the small gun attached to her blade was aimed directly at the robot's eye. She opened fired without mercy, never stopping until it fell, sparks spluttered from what was left of its head. With only one mechanical opponent left Mars felt confident in his chances of winning, especially since he was now rather pissed off and had an extremely irritated Lastation Candidate along with an utterly curious Planeptune Candidate with him. The robot looked around the area before deciding to do the only thing it thought was valid at such a point: self destruction.

As soon as the robot started to heat up quickly Mars knew that it was going to self destruct, but this time he was the closest one to the robot, not Black Sister, and this time the self destruction sequence was much quicker than the event with the killachines. As the robot exploded in a deadly inferno Mars could see the fire approach him at a swift rate, it was about to engulf him when something grabbed him from the right side of his body and tackled him to the ground a safe distance away. Mars and the figure skidded across the grass for several seconds until the explosion had died away, then Purple Sister came running up to them.

"Uni! Mars! Are you two alright?" the Candidate asked them.

"Wait, Uni?" Mars muttered, he looked downwards to see Black Sister on top of him, her face was close to his while her arms were wrapped around him, her legs were on either side of the young man. When the Lastation Candidate stared at Mars the young man could see the anger and sorrow in her expression and her green eyes.

Black Sister uttered no words when her fellow Candidate arrived, instead she leaned herself up until she was sitting on Mars' stomach, then she slapped the young man across the face with all of her might, the slap left a dark red mark on Mars' left cheek. It was then that the Candidate spoke, her face gloomy and her eyes half shut. "Don't you dare… don't you dare do that again," Black Sister muttered to Mars. "I thought you were dead when that minigun mowed you down, I almost cried because of you. You idiot! You damn, stupid idiot!"

"Calm down, Uni," Mars tried to reason with the Candidate, but to no avail.

"Shut up! Why did you let it do that? Why?! Grrrrrr! You're a damn idiot." Black Sister got off the young man, stood up straight before sighing. "Come on, we should head back, there's nothing for us here. Besides, the dead family in that farmhouse is probably nothing more than a pile of ashes by now."

"What family?" Mars asked. When Black Sister refused to answer he looked over at Purple Sister for an answer, but the saddened expression he received from her said it all. "Ah, I get, no need to say anything, Nepgear."

"If it's alright with everyone I'm going to salvage some parts from these robots, maybe they can come in handy when I go and make some for myself," Purple Sister informed the others, they nodded in response and the Planeptune Candidate soon got to work.

Mars and Black Sister were silent, no word was uttered as the two stood side-by-side, leaning on the steel barn wall. The Lastation Candidate was gazing away from Mars – who had placed a nearby oversized, dark green jacket covered in dirt over him – and towards the burnt down farmhouse, a depressed expression was apparent. Mars looked over at the Candidate and tried to talk to her. "Come on, Uni, don't be like this," Mars said to her.

"Like what? Angry? Depressed? *Sigh* Why do I even bother helping you?" Black Sister replied, her voice low.

"Please, Uni, just forgive and forget already, I didn't mean to worry you like that."

"L-L-L-Like wh-what? I-I-I wasn't worried or anything, I was just… concerned about whether my efforts to help you were all in vain, then my time would have just been wasted for nothing."

"How nice, and I thought you actually cared about me. I thought we were friends"

Black Sister continued to look away from Mars while blushing. "W-Well, it isn't that I don't care about you, it's… it's true that I think of you as a f-f-f-friend. Got it?"

"If you say so. Damn, you tsunderes are hard to read sometimes you know that?"

"I'm not a tsundere! Why do you have to keep using that against me?"

"Because it's true." Mars would have laughed if he could have, he found the tsundere's expression to be quite funny to say the least.

* * *

"Hmm, well that's odd," Ares mumbled as he looked down at a small, portable computer attached to his left arm, the screen was showing some statistics which troubled him.

"What's wrong now?" the blonde woman asked, her patience was running thin due to her perverted companion's desire to search through the Lastation hardware store for supplies to help create some more machines, to summarise the woman was ready to savagely beat her companion up with anything she had nearby before dragging him away to where they were supposed to be heading.

"Oh nothing much, it's just my robots, they've gone offline is all."

"Wait, what robots?" The shape shifting woman was suspicious and highly concerned of what the hooded young man had been doing in his spare time whenever they were not on a mission, this was just one example of her concerns. She stared the young man down until he chuckled nervously and scratched the back of his neck, sweat formed around his forehead.

"Well, the thing is… I kinda finished off some of the old man's projects and sent them on a test run, last I checked they ended up south of Lastation in some old farmland. Hope you aren't angry with me for this."

The blonde woman walked up to her companion, her face filled with anger and her eyes narrowed at the young man before her – who was now trying to make an escape until one of her arms lunged forward and grabbed him by the collar. "You idiot! Did you even know what those robots were for?!"

"Yeah: search and destroy."

"Much more than that, you perverted minded simpleton! Those were experimental machines that were supposed to be kept locked up until further notice, they were not meant to be let out, be outfitted with random gadgets and then let loose into the world. Who knows how many people have been killed because of you. Dammit, it's like the killachine problem all over again."

"At least you didn't hit me this time. By the way, is it a bad time to ask you out on a date?"

The woman glared viciously at him before letting go and sighed deeply. "You're an idiot, you do realise that right? If only your older brother could see you now, he'd probably knock some sense into you."

The young man's eyes wandered to the ground, for the first time the shape shifting woman could see sorrow in his blue eyes. "He isn't here, but we are. Come on, we better get moving once I buy all of these parts that I want, then we can get going to the base."

* * *

Black Sister and Purple Sister carried Mars and the robotic parts all the way back to the Lastation Guild, the day had started to grow older as the sun moved westward while clouds began to appear all over the place, it seemed as if the evening and night were to become either windy or just rain in general. Once they returned to the Guild the Candidates reverted back to human form and received the quest reward, then came the issue of dividing the credits among each other evenly. It was quickly resolved thanks to Nepgear saying that she did not want nay credits, the robot parts were enough for her. When the group returned to the Basilicom they found Noire and Neptune in the gaming room, both senior CPUs had empty cups of pudding laying around the couch and at their feet while their attention was fixated on the large TV screen in front of them. When Mars, Uni and Nepgear entered the room the older CPUs did not even notice them.

"Take that, Lonely Heart!" Neptune gleefully shouted, her face bright, cheerful and full of determination, a Lastation controller was in her hands.

"Hey! Grrrrr… that wasn't a fair kill!" Noire complained. "You just did a 360 no scope headshot, that never works! You must have cheated somehow."

"Oh don't be such a sore looser and lighten up already, we're playing game after all. There's no need to be- what?! Why?!"

"Heh, that was called vengeance. Nothing like a headshot to calm the nerves these days."

"But that wasn't fair! I was trying to explain stuff and all that."

"It's just a game, Neptune. Calm down will you?"

"Says the tsundere who just whined about getting killed by someone who didn't need to use a scope to snipe their ass."

"To hell with you!"

Mars, Uni and Nepgear looked at each other before silently agreeing to leave Neptune and Noire by themselves to argue in peace with no one around them, so the small group made their way out of the gaming room and walked in the direction of Mars' room, why was unknown to the young man. Once they arrived inside his room Mars sat down on the bed and sighed, he looked up to see Nepgear looking down at him, it was obvious that she had a question or two. Meanwhile Uni had sat down on a nearby chair and watched her two friends closely.

"Hey, um, Mars, do you mind if I ask you something?" Nepgear asked the young man. "It's alright if you say no, it might be a bit personal."

"Alright then, ask away, but be careful with your words," Mars replied, mildly dreading where this conversation was heading for.

"Alright then. Um, those scars of yours, what happened to you?"

Mars sighed and held his face in his hands, he immediately regretted to agreeing to answer Nepgear's question, but he knew that he had to answer her. "I… I've had these for a long time, a really long time. I'm not going to say any more about it, if you don't mind."

"S-Sure, sorry about that. Anyway, that's quite some power you've got, being able to regenerate all the time. That's pretty cool."

"It may be to you, but for me it's another matter entirely, and I rather not go into detail about it."

"If you say so, um, sorry if it's personal to you."

"Hey, don't worry about it. Anyway, I'm going to rest for a while, I'll see you two later."

Nepgear smiled and made her way to the door. "Sure thing, see you another time, Mars."

As Nepgear left the room Uni was about to leave until she turned around and looked back at Mars, both of them stared at each other for a short moment before Uni slightly smiled. "See you later, Mars, have a good rest and I'll see you later today."

Mars nodded in response as Uni exited his room, closing the door behind her. The young man looked outside to see the sky covered in clouds, the streets were alive and full of people going about their daily business as per usual, nothing was out of the ordinary. With another sigh Mars pulled the small leather bound book out of his right boot as well as the pen out of his left, opened the book up and began to write. The book was small and weather-worn, it appeared to have seen battle several times due to the marks on it, the pen was almost dried up of blue ink and the bottom of it looked as if Mars had chewed on it several times. Outside the wind picked up speed and leaves were sent flying all over the place, late afternoon had struck and to it the end of the day was nearing.

* * *

 **A/N: The plot is moving ahead now that I have a clear path for it this time, and I intend to stick with it – although suggestions are still appreciated nonetheless. How do you readers think the chemistry between Mars and Uni is working out? There aren't any intimate feelings bubbling on the surface as of yet, but with all the affectionate scenes that have been going on so far is it a bit too fast? Also, was the way I described the farmer family's remains a bit too gory, especially concerning the nine year old kid? I hope not.**

 **I regret to say but some future chapters will be shorter than others, at least 4,000 to around 5,000 words in total for some (yes, I consider that small), this is because of a lack of ideas or even just a wild imagination that cannot be put into actual words. As for the robots, I got the idea about them from playing the Fallout 4 DLC Automatron, more specifically the enemy robot's design take after the pre-war Assaultrons. Whether this plays a part in the plot remains to be seen, but I think it adds a bit to Ares' personality as a person – a crazy mechanist at that. As always, leave a suggestion if you so desire – I'm up for any ideas concerning this fanfic – and have a good day readers.**


	8. A Gamer's Request

**Chapter 7: A Gamer's Request**

 _Dark, dank and eerie. That was what everyone was thinking during that time. Everything was quiet aside from the dripping noise of a leaky pipe. The prison-like complex was filled with all manner of padded armour guards who marched through the various grey-walled hallways, people in white lab coats looking over computer monitors and prisoners lamenting their time away… and yet this was no prison. In the deepest parts of the facility, scientists were gathered around the bleeding, dead body of a young teenager, her dark orange hair was splattered with her own blood, her face had split apart which left a large oval shaped hole where her eyes, nose and mouth should be. The scientists looked at the corpse only when they had to as they took down their notes, hundreds of words were written down explaining the cause and effect of the test and what should be recommended for next time. It was another failure for Project Mars._

 _In a nearby room just down the corridor there was a large steel door, it appeared to have been used many times due to the wearing on the handle, the door even had deep scratches embedded into it. If anyone happened to pass by the tightly sealed room they would have heard the faintest sounds of electric shocks, metal beating against flesh and pained grumblings. No one needed to be told what was going on in there, the sounds were very clear and painted a painful image in their minds. Subject 13 had done his usual round of rebellion against Maximilian and now the young guy was getting his punishment._

 _Maximilian held a short rod from which electricity crackled from, the tall, white haired man was holding the rod in his right hand while his left hand was hanging by his side with a bandage wrapped around the wrist, small splodges of blood could be seen on the white bandages, an expressionless look was on his face. Next to Maximilian was a steel table covered in all manner of rods, knives and even a whip with steel ends, small splatters of blood covered the tabletop as well as one of the sharp knives. The leader of the facility was staring at Subject 13, the young man was chained to the wall with his back towards the white haired man, the flesh was covered in fresh cuts from the knife and marks from where the electric rod had made its mark. Subject 13 coughed some blood onto the wall he was facing and grumbled._

" _Gah! You'll never break me, bastard!" Subject 13 grunted painfully. By the look on his face, he would have punched the old man if he was not chained by the wrists and the ankles._

" _Heh, if we were not in this situation then I think you and I would have got along quite well," Maximilian chuckled as he placed the electric rod back onto the table. "But we are not in that situation, and we never will be. Now, be a good boy and remain silent while you receive your rightful punishment."_

" _Fuck yo- gah!" The young man yelled out in pain as Maximilian began using the barbed whip to its full extent, the old man launched strike after strike against the young man's back until it barely resembled a normal back at all. Blood flowed down the scarred flesh, muscle and even a small hint of bone could be spotted if one was to look carefully - if they could stomach it at all._

 _Maximilian stopped his brutal attack and stood back, the whip now folded up into his hands. "Hmm, I wonder if I over did it," he mumbled to himself as he threw the whip onto the table and made his way to Subject 13, the old man grabbed the young man by the chin and turned his head around to face him, he appeared to be unconscious. That was until his eyes shot wide open and his mouth lunged forward, the young man's teeth clenched on Maximilian's right hand, the tortured young man could feel blood starting to flow out, the taste was oddly sour._

 _The old man did not expect this to happen, with a vicious growl he swung his left arm at Subject 13 and smashed his arm into the young man's face, his head smashed into the concrete wall with a loud thud. The old man grumbled in annoyance, grabbed Subject 13 by the hair and pulled his head back, he noted that the young man was barely conscious and had a bloody nose. "Some 'tough guy' you are," Maximilian mumbled into the young man's ear, uncaring about the fact that he was almost unconscious. "Just drop the act already, it won't save you or your fellow comrades. You are the underdog and I am the master. This is the life you must lead, Subject 13. No one can save you now."_

* * *

"GAH!" Mars yelled randomly as his head surged upwards from the table beneath him, a pained expression was cast upon his face and sweat dripped down his face. He wiped the sweat away, breathing in and out deeply before sighing. "It was a bad dream, just a bad dream… bad memories, that's all it is."

As Mars relaxed back into his chair he could feel the scars on his back starting to emit pain, the bad memory felt as if it had awoken the pain that had been inflicted all that time ago. The young man gritted his teeth as he remembered that on that day several years ago he had been almost tortured to death by an overly angry Maximilian. Mars would always feel the pain whenever that day arrived, for the last two years he had done his best to forget about the memory and the pain, but to no avail, he also did not have any money to go and by some pain relievers. But now it was different. This time, he now had access to the medical supplies of a CPU and a CPU Candidate. _Noire and Uni should have something regarding alleviating my pain,_ he reasoned to himself. With a nod Mars picked up the various sheets of unsigned paperwork on the table, stacked them together neatly and put them in one, large pile on the wooden table next to a stamp that stamped Noire's signature onto anything, the young man then stood up and walked out of his room and into the hallway.

Why was Mars working with paperwork? The Oracle was due to head off to another conference with the leading factory owners regarding the sales of weapons, armour, furniture and toys, that was going to take a day at least. But then Kei also said that afterwards she was going to another conference, this time it involved the Oracles of the other nations of Gamindustri, Kei not informing Mars why or where she would be, but merely asked for Mars to step in for her and aid Noire with signing paperwork so that the senior CPU could have time for herself afterwards. Mars' response indicated that he was not interested, that was until Kei bribed him with something that the young man had taken a liking to: Nepsi. Over the years, Planeptune had been developing several brands of fizzy drinks, the first being Nep Bull - which was useful as a pick-me-up in the morning - while the second was Nepsi; the drink had quickly become a fast, world-selling phenomenon and rivalled another certain popular fizzy drink that Lastation developed and sold. Mars had taken a liking to Nepsi the day after he and the two Candidates returned from their quest involving the rogue robots. Ever since, Mars had been hooked to the popular, fizzy drink, and Kei used it to her own advantage.

When Kei asked Mars for his assistance she knew that Nepsi would be able to convince him to help with the workload, and it worked. As soon as Mars finally agreed to the deal, Noire gave the young man a stamp with a print of her signature on it and hundreds of paperwork to fill out. He then went back to his room and began to work away. At times he thought he would go insane, falling asleep and having the recurring, bad dream about a past memory.

Now the young man was walking down the hallways of the Basilicom, looking for pain relievers to ease his back. As Mars entered the kitchen the pain in his back started to become more unbearable; the young man gritted his teeth and growled as he rubbed the scars on his back while opening cupboards at random.

"Come on, come on, where the hell is it!?" Mars grumbled to himself as he opened another cupboard and searched through it, in which he was unsuccessful with finding medical supplies. "I should ask Noire about any pain relievers that she might have around here, but I don't want her to raise any questions about it though."

"About what?" asked a prideful voice coming from the doorway.

Mars quickly looked around to see Noire standing in the doorway, a questioning expression was on her face and her arms were crossed in front of her, she wondered why Mars was looking through the cupboards and why one of his hands was rubbing his back. They both stared at each other for a short time before Mars slowly closed the cupboard door and focused his attention solely on the raven haired CPU.

"Oh, hello there, Noire, didn't see you," Mars said, attempting to defuse any suspicions. It did not work.

"What are you doing?" Noire asked, her eyes forming into a glare. It was clear that the CPU of Lastation still did not fully trust Mars.

"I'm just looking for something. What about you?"

"I am looking for something to eat, I worked up quite an appetite after completing some paperwork. I hope you managed to get at least some paperwork completed. But you failed to answer my question. What are you doing?"

"Um, well, er…" Mars lets out a defeated sigh before continuing. "Do you have any pain relievers around here somewhere?"

Noire raised an eyebrow as she walked over to him. "What do you need that for?"

"Doing all that paperwork tired my right wrist out and it bloody hurts like hell, happen to have something for it?"

From what the young man could see Noire bought his lie, she sighed and shook her head. "Is that all? Jeez, you're such a whimp, and here I thought you were all 'Mr Tough'. Follow me."

Doing exactly as she said Mars followed Noire out of the kitchen and down the hallway, she appeared to be in a quickened pace and the young man did his best to keep up with her without grunting from all the pain in his back. Finally Mars found himself in the bathroom with Noire searching through one of the small cupboards, she knelt down to the ground and began to take items out so she could get to the back, then the CPU found what she was looking for. "Aha! Found it," Noire said, her words were muffled due to how far in the cupboard she was.

Noire emerged from beneath the cupboard and handed a small bottle of liquid to Mars, the young man peering at it quizzically before staring back at the CPU before him. "The bloody hell do I do with this?" he asked.

"You smear it over the area where it hurts, then the medicine will take its course from there," Noire replied as she closed the cupboard. "Was there anything else you needed?"

Mars shook his head. "No, not at the moment."

As Mars turned around and left the bathroom he swore he could hear Noire mumbling a tsundere-esque pout, directed towards him as he left. "Sure, go ahead and leave, it isn't like I wanted you to thank me or anything." The young man considered stopping to thank the CPU, but after receiving the cold reaction that he would always get out of her, he decided against it. _Vengeance is a dish best served cold,_ Mars thought to himself. He then made his way back to his room, closed the door and stripped the top half of his attire off, revealing his deep and long scars to the wall.

"Hmm, is this thing like those medical bottles where you have to turn it in a certain way?" Mars asked himself as he fiddled with the bottle, trying to figure out how to open it. To his annoyance he was unable to open the bottle. "Oh come on! Where's the bloody instructions on this damn thing?!"

In the end Mars resorted to bashing the top of the bottle against his desk just to open it, it being a continuous struggle, lasting nearly ten minutes, before the lid was sent flying off of the wall and back at Mars, hitting him in the face. The young man shook his head and saw strands of grey liquid that had spilled onto the table, barely missing the paperwork.

"Why is this thing grey? Shouldn't it be white? Most things are typically white, aren't they? Oh well, I guess it can't be helped." Mars finds a note on the back of the bottle. "Hmm? The heck's this?" He turned the bottle around and read what it said: "Pain relievers for CPUs. Will work for humans, but may cause some burning pain".

 _That tsundere bitch! She did this on purpose didn't she?! Ah screw it, might as well use the damn thing._ As Mars began to apply it to the scars on his back he felt as if he was being burnt, he gritted his teeth as the pain subsided and the liquid began to do its work. _At least Uni would have given me something that isn't as painful as this. Speaking of Uni, when is she going to get back?_

The CPU Candidate of Lastation was out and about in the city with Nepgear again, they had invited Mars to join them but the young man had then informed the Candidates about his obligation to help Noire with all the paperwork that had accumulated within the office. Mars did not really care to go into the city just to take a look around, enter the various shops before finally stopping off at the gun store; he had been doing that for a while now. The only thing seemingly beneficial was when Uni acknowledged the fact that she would get Mars some Nepsi upon her return. Mars applied more of the liquid onto his back and once more gritted his teeth as the short term side effects kicked in.

As this happened he began to count how long he had been living in the Basilicom. _Jeez, how long has it been? Two, no, three weeks? Yeah, it's been three weeks since I started living here. It feels like time has flown by quickly. Funny, when did I even started to enjoy being here anyway?_

As Mars finished rubbing the liquid onto his back he closed the lid tightly, wiped his hands on a nearby towel and waited for the burning sensation to subside before checking to see if the area was dry enough to put his shirt back on. After he did this, he continued to stamp Noire's signature onto the paperwork, moaning and groaning as he did this for the next three hours; Mars felt as if his right wrist was actually going to fall off due to all of the work. Finally, after Mars had stamped the last piece of paper he leaned back into his chair and let out a deep sigh; all of the work had worn him out.

 _I'd better hand this over to Noire before she hounds me down and annoys me. Don't want to actually put a bullet between her eyes._

The young man stood up, gathered all the paperwork into a single bunch and left his room. Nothing had piqued his interest as he made his way down the various hallways towards Noire's office other than the fact that it was rather quiet. Once Mars made it into Noire's office he saw the CPU tapping away at her computer with all of her paperwork staked into several neat piles in trays that were laid across her desk, she quickly took notice of the young man and looked at him, she did not appear to be pleased.

"Took you long enough," Noire told Mars, her arms crossed in front of her. "I had barely given you much to finish and I still managed to finish before you. Heh, how disappointing. You would make a bad secretary, that's for sure."

"Cut me some slack, I've never even done this sort of work before, I'm used to hacking and smashing not signing and stamping," Mars refuted as he placed his paperwork next to the haughty CPU. "Besides, this sort of work is boring beyond hell, I wasn't able to keep my concentration on it."

"Clearly." Noire sighed and shook her head. "Maybe it's better if I wait for Kei next time instead of relying on you. You are practically useless at this."

"Wow, how rude of you. Perhaps I should put that bullet in your head after all."

Noire looked up at Mars to see his eyes glowing blood red and a snarling expression across his face, his right fist was clenched tightly. Noire quickly realised she had just pissed him off, for that was something she did not want, the memory of what happened three weeks previously still daunted her. Fortunately for the CPU, Mars calmed down and sighed.

"Whatever, I'll be off now," the young man informed Noire, his tone indicating that he was still rather distraught.

As Mars left the office and exited down the hallway to the kitchen Noire sighed and held her head in her hands, her elbows rested on the tabletop. "I'm sorry, Mars, I am truly sorry," Noire muttered, directed somewhat to Mars, whether he was able to hear her was undecided.

Mars did not hear Noire as he made his way to the kitchen, nor would he have cared even if he did hear her. Once he entered the kitchen, he opened the fridge and searched for any Nepsi that he could find, but much to his annoyance he found none. He swore that there was some in the fridge during the morning. _Dammit, Kei must have hidden them, at least I think so. I'm never doing anything for that Oracle again._ The young man closed the fridge door with a loud thud and walked out of the kitchen. He then made his way towards the gaming room with the intent of calming his nerves by playing some online matches on whatever game he could get his hands on.

Once he arrived at his destination he made his way to the TV, turned the console on and began to search through the pile of games he could play. After several minutes of searching he came across a game that piqued his interests: 'Call of Duty, Nep Edition'. _The hell is this? Actually, I think I saw Noire and Neptune play this some time ago. Hmm, yeah, I'll give it a go._ Mars placed the disk into the console and sat on the sofa. The screen lit up and he then began to learn how to use the various controls that were at his disposal. From what the young man could remember of his life, he was no gamer, he was more of a punching bag and a rebel. He shivered as he remembered it all and began to play the game. As Mars played through the tutorial he began to hum away at some song he heard a while back during his travels. He could only remember the name of the song: 'The Wanderer'. He heard it back in Leanbox when he was tracking a rogue scientist from Project Mars - incidentally the scientist was killed when Mars threw him into a furnace.

After spending a short while on the tutorial the young man felt confident enough to try an online match, to his surprise he found over two dozen lobbies to join. As he looked at each one he found a lobby that piqued his interests, from what he could read it appeared that the host was a person called Green Heart, the name sounded oddly familiar to him. Then Mars remembered, Green Heart was the Goddess of Leanbox. _So the rumours were true, Green Heart is a gamer, though I wonder if she's actually a hardcore gamer as the rumours also say. Guess I'm at a disadvantage here, I should just join a different lobby instead._

As Mars was prepared to join a different lobby he felt the presence of someone standing behind him, he turned around to see Noire looking down at him, her hands upon her hips. "What are you doing, Noire?" Mars asked, he still sounded like he would attack the prideful CPU at any moment.

"Join that lobby," Noire ordered. "You have to bring down Vert and end her winning streak."

"Vert? Is that what you call Green Heart?"

Noire nodded her head as she sat down on the sofa, she made sure that there was some distance between her and Mars. "Beat her, do this for Lastation, bring us glory on the online gaming community!"

"And why would I do that?"

"Because you're a citizen of Lastation, not only that but I am also your goddess. Need any further explanation?"

"You're not my goddess, I have no faith in you or Uni for that matter. I put my faith in no one, that's how I'm still alive."

Noire raised an eyebrow and gazed away as she sighed in defeat. "Oh whatever. Hmm, actually, how about this: think of this as a challenge, if you can defeat Vert then that means you can master all games, plus it is good training if you think about it. So, how about it?"

Mars rubbed his chin as he thought about it for a minute or two, eventually he sighed and looked at Noire. "Fine then, I'll do it. But this is for myself, not for you, Uni or Lastation's gaming honour. Got it?"

Noire nodded in response and watched the TV screen as Mars entered the lobby, the Lastation CPU did not find it surprising that Vert and Mars were the only ones in the lobby, Vert's gaming reputation on the online community was enough for anyone to avoid her in any game. When they entered the match Mars noted how the area was filled with trees, bushes and ruined buildings, he had spawned on one end of the map while Vert and spawned at the other end. As soon as the countdown was over Mars rushed to the ruined buildings, he hoped that it would give him some good coverage while he tried to snipe the gaming goddess. However, when his character arrived at the ruins it seemed that Vert had the same idea. Vert's character jumped out behind a wall and carved Mars into pieces.

"Alright then, was not expecting that," Mars mumbled. "This going to be harder than I thought."

When Mars respawned he changed tactics: instead of using the ruins to snipe Vert he decided to use the bushes for cover, then he would snipe the hell out of her. At least that was the plan. When he reached several thick bushes Vert was waiting nearby, the skirmish was short and bloody as Vert shot Mars several times in the chest as he tried, and failed, to get a clean shot at her head. This went on for a while with no signs of Mars winning any sort of kill, no matter how much he tried. Then came a moment of glory for Mars. As Vert's character ran through the dense bushes and trees she was blown up by a carefully placed claymore, Noire grinned victoriously and jabbed the air with an uppercut victory posture while Mars chuckled to himself.

"Finally, about time," Mars muttered ashe concentrated on getting another kill by any means necessary, the young man felt as if the true fight had begun.

For the next hour Mars and Vert fought each other, they both used any weapon they had in their arsenal to gain any kill before the timer ran out,. Eventually the timer signalled the end of the match, much to Noire's disappointment Mars lost the match by five kills. She sighed and leaned back into the sofa as she looked at Mars. "You could have done better than that," Noire told him.

"Excuse me for being a first timer, you damn tsundere," Mars retorted.

"Wh-Wh-What?! I-I-I'm not a tsundere!"

"That's what Uni says all the time." Before the young man could say anything else his attention was stolen by what was happening on the screen, it looked like Vert was messaging him. When Mars looked at the message it read: 'Turn on your microphone, I'd like to speak to you.' Mars gazed at Noire questioningly, the tsundere shrugged in response which prompted the young man to attach a headset to the console and turned it on. "Hello? Is this thing working?"

"Indeed it is," came the reply, the voice was full of elegance and sounded formal, it belonged to that of a woman.

"I presume that I'm speaking to Green Heart?"

"That you are, Bluebottlejr."

Noire, who was sitting closer to Mars than before, was listening to what Vert was saying, that was when she heard Vert say Mars' gamer name. "Seriously? Bluebottlejr? What a ridiculous name," Noire laughed at Mars, causing the young man to growl at the CPU.

"Hmm? Is that Noire next to you?" Vert asked.

"Yeah, it is," Mars replied, his attention returning to the gamer goddess.

"Well, that might explain your determination to defeat me then. Was she edging you on or something?"

"Sort of, I was just playing the game, it's actually my first time playing this."

Mars could tell that he had piqued Vert's interest. "Is that so? I must say that you are quite good at this game, far better than any newbie that I have faced before. Have you played any game similar to this before?"

"Not that I can remember, I'm just not a gamer by nature."

"Is that so? Hmm, I have an idea. How about we have another match this time the timer will be set for fifteen minutes and the winner is the one who has the most kills, the loser has to do what the winner says for a day. How about it?"

Mars looked over at Noire for guidance on the matter, the CPU nodded firmly, obviously she was feeling confident and excited about the prospect of Mars winning and ordering Vert around for a day. With that response Mars focused his attention back to the microphone. "Alright then, Green Heart, I'm in."

"Please, just call me Vert, no need for formalities between us."

"Fine then, you can call me Mars."

"Mars… that's an interesting choice for a name. Regardless, I will set up the match, good luck, Mars." With that the conversation ended and all contact with Vert over the microphone ceased.

"You better win this," Noire told Mars. "Be tactful and ruthless, you definitely do _not_ want to be on the receiving end if Vert wins this match. Trust me."

The young man gulped and started to become worried for himself when Noire said that, she made it sound like Vert was some sort of sadist with a nasty streak. _Why did I agree to this? Why? Why? Why?! I can be such an idiot at times! Thanks a lot, Noire, for getting me into this mood. Damn it, no going back now I suppose. I better get through this and win._ With that the match began, a fierce bloodbath occurred between Mars and Vert, both fighting for complete control of the centre of the map. For fourteen minutes they slaughtered each other until only a minute remained, both players had the same number of kills, the endgame was in sight as the last few seconds went by.

Mars and Vert ran into each other, aimed their chosen weapons and fired rapidly at one another, their bullets collided with one another as the last second rolled in. Noire could barely contain herself as she watched it all unfold before her. "So who's the winner?" Noire asked Mars. When Mars pointed at the screen she saw the results. The winner was...

* * *

 **A/N: And we shall end it on a cliffhanger, sorry about that. Who won? Who lost? Was it a draw? Find out next time in chapter 8 of Subject 13: Mars.**

 **A shorter chapter than usual, but this will be a trend of some sorts throughout this story, I apologise if you readers prefer longer chapters. This chapter was a different pace from what I have been doing previously, personally I think it is a good change from all the action that I've been putting in so far. Oh, and thanks to HDNftw for aiding me with grammar errors as well as some other stuff. Anyway, leave a suggestion if you so desire, have a good day and keep yourselves safe.**


	9. A Day Out in Leanbox

**Chapter 8: A Day Out in Leanbox**

A few days had passed since Mars' and Vert's online match, and it was a great disappointment for Noire since the young man lost. For all those days that had passed, Mars had spent them all in Leanbox with Vert; he was not allowed to have visitors due to some sort of 'regulation' within Leanbox. When Vert's restraint had been questioned by Noire and Uni, the gamer goddess would not tell them what it was; all she told her fellow CPUs was that they could see him in just a few days. And now that time was up. Strangely enough Noire and Uni were invited by Vert to accompany her to a restaurant, even Neptune and Nepgear were invited to come along, although a certain book loving CPU was also invited but refused to be even slightly interested, instead preferring to be with her books and continue writing her novel. Even her twin sisters were not allowed to go, apparently the story the other CPUs heard was that Rom and Ram - the Lowee CPU Candidate twins - were cleaning up the city park after a prank that went wrong.

Those who did choose to come gathered outside the entrance to the Leanbox Basilicom, Uni was anxious about Mars' fate, Noire was just plain bored, Neptune was playing a game on Nepgear's N-gear whilst the Planeptune Candidate herself gazed around her surroundings. Vert was taking her time getting to them, and it was annoying the prideful CPU of Lastation, she looked back at the entrance and grumbled silently. _Damn it, Vert, what's taking you so long? Don't tell me you're playing games again._ Her fears were pushed aside when the blonde haired goddess had finally emerged from the Basilicom.

"Ah, good! I'm glad you could all make it on such short notice," Vert said with a bright smile on her face, her hands crossed in front of her.

"Where's Mars?" Uni asked, uncaring about what the day had in store for her, her sister and her friends.

"He is perfectly fine, you will meet him later today, he's… busy at the moment," Vert replied. "I must say, you seem to care quite a bit for him. Are you, by chance, in a relationship with him?"

Uni processed the words through her brain for a moment before her face turned bright red, Vert and the others thought that steam would start spreading out of her ears at any moment. "Wh-Wh-Wh-What?! N-N-No way would I be in a relationship with him! I'd rather drink out of a toilet that hasn't been cleaned for over a decade than be with that jerk!"

"Be careful for what you wish for, Uni, it might come true." Vert giggled away after she said that, continuing to smile away. "Regardless, we should make haste to the restaurant, they are expecting us to be there soon."

"Alrighty then, let's-a-go!" Neptune exclaimed as she jumped into the air.

With a nod of acknowledgement from Vert, the group made their way down the street from the Basilicom. Along the way, Vert continued to smile and would sometimes greet people whenever they walked past them; it was clear that Vert was rather open to her citizens despite being a seclusive gamer. Noire was rather surprised about it, she had thought of Vert as someone who would never leave her room unless forced to. Although, the Lastation CPU wondered why Vert invited all the CPUs to dine with her at some random restaurant all of a sudden, not to mention she had hardly spoken about Mars at all. Noire caught up with Vert after she had greeted a random citizen and tapped her shoulder to get the goddess's attention.

"Hmm? Was there something you wanted to ask, Noire?" Vert asked.

"Yes, there is something. What happened to Mars? You said that the loser had to do what the winner said for a day, and it's been around three days already."

Vert looked at Noire sternly before breaking out into a laugh. "Oh my, and I thought it was only Uni who cared about the young man."

Noire eyes widened and her face turned red with shock and embarrassment. "Wh-Wh-What d-do you mean by that?! I don't care about him! You've got it all wrong!"

Vert chuckled away, clearly amused at the reaction. "Whatever you say, Noire. Although, your younger sister had a much more tsundere reaction than you when I spoke about Mars, why would that be?"

"First off I am not a tsundere, but I cannot say the same for Uni. Secondly, to answer your question, Uni found Mars after a brawl with a few ancient dragons, I only met him when she brought him to my Basilicom for treatment. Ever since then those two have spent around three weeks completing quests together as well as roaming around Lastation with Nepgear at times, I guess you can say that they are close but not completely close, Uni still has a hard time accepting him as a friend." Noire then frowned at Vert. "But you still haven't answered my original question. What happened to Mars?"

Vert chuckled again innocently. "Why, nothing much at all, I had him do some… exercises for the day, then afterwards I had him stay for a few days. Do not worry, he'll be returned by the end of the day."

Uni, who had been listening to the whole conversation, walked up next to Vert and entered the conversation. "Hold on, I thought you said that the loser had to do what the winner said for a day, not for an extensive period of time."

"I have altered the deal, pray I do not alter it any further."

Uni would not admit it but she was feeling rather concerned for Mars' well-being, especially after spending several days with Vert doing 'exercises' of an unknown nature. "You didn't make him do anything weird, did you?" Uni asked the voluptuous goddess.

"Why heavens no, we just went through some training is all."

"Training? What kind of training?" Uni frowned at the taller goddess as she spoke.

Once more Vert chuckled as they passed a few tourists. "Have no fear, my dear Uni, he is in good shape at the moment. Although, there is one thing that troubles me about him. Tell me, is it normal for Mars to growl like a dragon with a bad temper?"

Noire raised her eyebrow and looked at Vert quizzically while Uni glanced away and scratched her head, uncertain about whether to answer the question or not. The Candidate finally answered Vert's question due to the look she received from her older sister. "Well, it isn't normal. The first, and last, time I heard it was when we first met each other, he sounded like some sort of dragon and it felt like my ears would start to bleed. But that was over three weeks ago and I never heard it again. Did you do something to anger him?"

Vert took in the information and processed it before answering Uni's question. "Well, I had him read one of my manga to me last night. For some reason he doesn't like anything that involves boy-on-boy."

"I doubt anyone similar to him would enjoy it, in fact I doubt that many people even like it at all," Noire commented.

"Well, at least he's fine and all. I mean, he's a protagonist of sorts, the fanfic is named after him you know," Neptune interrupted as she squeezed in between Noire and Vert.

"Stop breaking the fourth wall already, Neptune," the Lastation CPU demanded, her patience waning thin.

The rest of the group chuckled away as they passed a corner and continued to walk down the street, passing tourists and citizens alike. As the minutes rolled on by they finally approached a street filled with all manner of cafés, fast food restaurants pub and places where people could gather to eat and drink, there was even a game store further down the corner. Vert took the lead and led the group down the street until they reached one of the restaurants, everyone in the group looked up at the sign and immediately there were mixed views. The sign read: 'Butler café. All people are welcome.' Noire stared at Vert to see her clasp her hands together and a bright smile formed on her face, it was clear to everyone that the blonde goddess was already having a great time.

 _Pathetic, I bet she even fantasies about this kind of thing whenever no one else is around. I can only imagine how Chiika must feel._ Noire thought to herself, sighing and shaking her head as she imagined stars and hearts appearing in Vert's eyes.

Uni seemed to be having the same thoughts as her older sister, she too sighed and shook her head before voicing her opinion. "How about we just leave now and retrieve Marrs on the way back to Lastation?" Uni asked Noire. "I don't like the idea of being here, I find it kinda creepy."

"Come on, Uni, it can't be all that bad," Nepgear said to Uni as she stood next to her. "You should go and see the inside before passing judgement you know. Who knows, maybe you'll like it."

"I doubt it, Nepgear," Uni replied, but after looking at the Planeptunian Candidate's friendly stare for a moment she relented and gave in. "Fine then, Nepgear, but this better be worth it."

"Trust me, Uni, it will be," Vert said, a devious grin formed on her face as she approached the entrance where the CPU was greeted by one of the butlers. It was a young man with darkish blonde hair and pale orange eyes, he wore a long sleeved, buttoned up white shirt, black pants, black shoes and a thin, black vest. He bowed courteously as Vert walked up to him.

"Welcome, Lady Green Heart, it is a pleasure to meet you face-to-face" the butler greeted the CPU of Leanbox.

"Good afternoon, Tensai, I trust you are doing well?" Vert greeted back.

"I am, thank you for asking. You would be glad to know that Butler nineteen is ready for action as we speak."

"Excellent. Now, I apologies if we are being hasty, but do you mind showing us to our table please?"

"Certainly, this way, miladies." The young man, who Vert had called Tensai, opened the large, glass doors and waited until the group of goddesses had entered before closing them shut.

It was certainly a sight to see. The butler restaurant was made up of a large, open space filled with large, dark yellow and brown tables and chairs, the walls were of a green colour, columns filled some parts of the restaurant where pictures and paintings were hanging, further to the back there was a stand filled to the brim with all manner of sweet and sugary food, what surprised them even more was what appeared to be a small library tucked away in one of the corners away from the main restaurant. To Noire's and Uni's surprise there was quite a lot of customers , all of them appeared to be women of all ages, young men acting as butlers were serving food, drinks and even posing for photos with any customer who wanted to do so. Some of the younger women were eyeing several of the butlers, gossiping over which one was better looking than the other.

As Tensei directed the group to their table Uni glanced around the place and realised that there were not a lot of butlers around, in fact the Candidate counted at least four including Tensai. As they sat down Tensai gave each of them a menu that had a list of available food and drinks, much to Neptune's delight there was a large section filled with all the different types of pudding, her mouth watered as she began to fantasise all the different flavours while being surrounded by the pudding. Nepgear, who was sitting next to Uni, looked over at her fellow Candidate and smiled.

"Hey, Uni, what are you going to order?" Nepgear asked.

"I don't know, I'm not feeling all that hungry," Uni replied as she continued to gaze at her menu. "Although, I'm rather surprised with the selection, most of this food doesn't even come from Leanbox."

"Ah, noticed did you?" Tensei asked as he peered over at her. "Here we credit ourselves for being a multicultural establishment, as you can see from the art, food and different textures we do our best to be welcoming to all people across the breadth of Gamindustri. It is not only our pride, but it is our passion. Not to mention that our little restaurant is fairly new, in fact if it had not been for Lady Green Heart I am fairly sure that we would have not got off the ground at all."

Vert looked up at the butler and smiled. "No need to keep thanking me, I'm only glad that Leanbox has a fully established and working butler café now."

"So, can we order now?" Neptune asked, she was fully energised and ready to eat all the pudding she could get her hands on.

"Well, Lady Purple Heart, normally I would ask for your orders but I'm afraid I do not have the pleasure of serving you from here on out. That is in the hands of butler nineteen whom Lady Green Heart specifically asked for, I hope he serves you all well. Farewell." With that Tensei bowed and walked off to the back of the café through a door that led to the kitchens.

Uni turned her attention over to Vert and frowned at the larger breasted goddess. "Okay, Vert, what are you up to?" Uni asked, her tone full of suspicion.

"Why, nothing more than trying to have a good time with everyone else," Vert replied, the smile on her face refused to go away, the Lastation Candidate thought the Leanboxic CPU was smiling smugly. "Why do you keep asking similar questions anyway?"

"Because you're up to something, you're always up to something." Uni then sighed and relaxed back into her chair. "So who is this butler nineteen? Sounds like you went through a lot of effort just to get this guy in."

"Oh you'll see, trust me."

Before Uni could retort back at Vert a shadow enveloped around her as soon as the sounds of footsteps approached the table, it seemed like the butler had arrived at last. But when the Candidate looked at her sister, Neptune and Nepgear she saw expressions filled with surprise, shock and even amusement on Noire's and Neptune's part. When Uni turned around and looked up she was left staring at the face of the last person she expected to see working at such an establishment. "Mars?! What the hell are you doing here?" Uni asked in a flabbergasted way.

Indeed it was Mars. The young man had his scruffy brown hair combed down and he had a lot more straightened posture than the Lastation Candidate last remembered, he even had his shoulders straightened back instead of them slumming forward all the time, the young man was also wearing a buttoned up, long sleeved white shirt with black pants and a black vest, Mars had a notepad in his left hand and a pen in his right. Despite it all the young man did not show any sign of aggressive behavior that the tsundere sisters had come to expect from him, instead he looked calm, almost too calm it would seem. If the CPUs - minus Vert of course - thought Mars was weird at that moment they were in for a shock when he started to speak.

"Good afternoon, miladies. How may I serve you today?" Mars asked courteously as he bowed slightly.

Nepgear was stunned into silence, Vert giggled away like a little kid who played a prank on someone, Neptune barely contained her laughter, Noire was shocked at first before a smug expression formed, Uni sighed and facepalmed when she returned her gaze back to Vert. "So _this_ was what you had planned all along, wasn't it?" the Lastation Candidate questioned the voluptuous goddess sternly

The CPU of Leanbox did her best to stifle the giggles that were escaping her as she nodded. "Yes, yes it was. But you have to admit that Mars looks splendid in that uniform, don't you agree?"

Uni eyed Mars sternly as the young man looked down at her, it almost looked like he was pleading with her to disagree with Vert. If that was the case he was sorely disappointed. Uni grinned and nodded at Vert. "Definitely, I think he should wear that more often, especially back at Lastation."

Noire nodded as her smug grin only increased in size. "I agree with you on that." She then turned her attention to Mars, who was by now restraining himself from killing everyone at the table. "Now then, Mars, be a dear and get me a flat white coffee, a bowl of fried chips, a large caesar salad and green tea for Vert, fifteen of the finest tuna sandwiches you've got for all of us, two thick caramel milkshakes for Uni and Nepgear, twenty puddings with all flavours for Neptune and everything on this page."

Mars wrote down the oversized order furiously, his upper teeth bit into his lower lip as he got word for word while trying to keep up with Noire, when he looked at the page she was pointing to he frowned at the CPU, who was still smirking. "Isn't that a bit _too much_ , Noire?" Mars asked.

"Hmm? What's that? I don't think our butler is responding well enough," said Noire, her voice rising so everyone would be able to hear it.

"Tch, fine. Coming right up, 'miladies'," Mars said with a tone filled with malice as he slightly bowed and parted away from them.

As he left Uni saw his right eyelid twitching while his fingers were shaking almost violently, it seemed as if he was ready to kill anyone who annoyed him just one more time. _Damn, looks like me and Noire are going to have a problem when we get back home with Mars. I'd stop being mean to him but this is too much fun, I'll probably never get this opportunity to humiliate him like this ever again._ Uni thought to herself as Mars entered the kitchen with their orders.

Noire, on the other hand, was jubilated over that fact that she could humiliate Mars by getting him to do anything as well as ceaselessly ordering food so he would have to go and fetch it, it made the Lastation CPU chuckle malevolently as she rubbed her hands together, plotting to make the young man's life miserable. Neptune, on the other hand, was not plotting anything malicious, instead she was waiting for her pudding to arrive with little patience, her mouth continued to drool as she pictured the sugary delights in front of her in all their glory. Nepgear remained silent, save for a few moments when a butler or two winked at her, causing the Candidate to stare questioningly.

It was no secret to Nepgear and Uni that there were some people out in Gamindustri who thought of them as stunning beauties, but Nepgear received the most attention out of the two of them, and Uni could not blame them. Nepgear was mature, a mechanical wizard, smart - at the best of times at least - and retained her good looks whenever she transformed into Purple Sister, in fact some said it only made her even more beautiful. The only thing that was going against the Planeptunian Candidate was her innocence, she was largely oblivious to any subtle advancements made towards by any possible suitors, though most of the time she was mainly sheltered by Neptune and Histoire who did not like the idea of Nepgear being courted by someone they did not know.

However, there were times when Uni would become jealous of her friend's good nature and looks, the Lastation Candidate would often say that she was better than Nepgear when it came to matters of work, but that was just about it, anything else besides that would make Uni saddened. In fact she found out that there had been an online poll on the internet where people voted for their favourite CPUs, Nepgear came out on top while Rom and Ram shared an almost equal amount of votes, Uni came last much to her own surprise, although she later came out in third this still made her depressed.

The Lastation Candidate looked down at her chest and imagined herself in HDD, the sight of herself with a flat chest made her sigh. _Damn it, why do_ I _have to turn flat whenever I transform? I can understand Rom's and Ram's position, although it's hard to say with Blanc. This sucks, I can't even be a great CPU like Noire._ She looked up to see Noire looking at her.

"What's wrong, Uni?" Noire asked her.

"What? Oh, nothing," came the reply. Noire stared sternly at her little sister, causing her to glance away back towards the kitchen door, hoping Mars would step out with at least some of their dishes. The Candidate sighed with relief as she saw the young man exit the kitchen with several plates carefully balanced on his arms and hands, there was even one on his head. He was wearing an apron along with the butler attire, and the apron was covered in some sort of slimy texture mixed with small pieces of vegetables.

"Here is half of your order, 'miladies'," Mars said almost viciously as he set down the tuna sandwiches, the bowl of chips, the drinks and half of the pudding.

"About time, I was just about to file a complaint to your superiors on account of you being late," Noire informed the young man as she picked up her coffee, but just as she was about to take a sip she heard Mars say something to her that made her feel uncomfortable.

"Go ahead, drink it. I dare you," Mars dared Noire, the raven haired CPU stared at her drink suspiciously and sniffed it, but she could not tell what was wrong with it.

"Tch, screw you Mars. I don't know if you have actually mixed something with the coffee but if I find out you had done so then I will make your life miserable," she warned him in a low and threatening tone.

"Like my life hasn't already been one load of shit without you in it, just stay out of it. Oh, and the coffee is fine." With that retort said Mars turned away and made his way back to the kitchen to retrieve the rest of their oversized order, but his words left several responses.

Noire growled at Mars as he walked away while vowing to crush him, Vert eyed him with interest, Nepgear appeared to be concerned for him, Neptune had her troll face on while Uni sighed and watched him enter the kitchen, hoping that neither he nor Noire start a fight when the day was over. However, despite the depressing silence that had fallen over the table it was soon relieved by Neptune once Mars returned with the last of their order. "Yo, Mars ol' buddy, you swear a lot?" she asked him after swallowing a slice of pudding.

"Um, yes, milady," Mars replied, he had returned to his butler act and attempted to keep the rage from within exploding into the air. "Is that a problem?"

"No, not at all, you just remind me of a certain someone is all. She's probably yelling and cursing at her younger sisters for whatever they did in Lowee."

"Lowee? Are you talking about Lady White Heart and the White Sisters?"

"That's right, you just swear like her is all, pity she ain't here to listen to you and Nowa go head-to-head."

"That's 'Noire' not 'Nowa' you stupid idiot!" Noire snarled at Neptune, the purple goddess looked at her and grinned mischievously, the Lastation CPU grumbled and crossed her arms as she stared at Neptune and Mars. "You say Mars and Blanc are alike when it comes to cursing, but you two are even more alike due to how many times you make fun of me. And you wonder why I'm taking my revenge right about now, Mars. Sheesh."

Mars raised his eyebrow and shrugged. "Whatever, I have to go now." As he began to walk off he was called over by a few of the new customers who were waiting to order, as the young man approached them one by one Neptune giggled away while Vert merely smiled.

"This indeed was a great idea, Mars is proving to be popular with the ladies around here," Vert said as she watched Mars enter the kitchen with the latest set of orders.

"No kidding, he's pretty smoking looking like that," Neptune told Vert as she nodded her head, for some reason that made Uni a little annoyed, although the CPU of Planeptune failed to notice it. "Although, it makes sense if you think about it, every customer here is female."

"Um, Neptune, if that is the case then who is that?" Nepgear interjected as she pointed over at a table in the other corner of the restaurant, the group looked over in the direction of Nepgear's finger to see two lone figures sitting by a round table in the corner. One had blonde hair tied up into a ponytail along with dark green eyes, she wore a brown, unzipped hooded jacket with a green shirt underneath with the words 'No Game, No Life' on it, she also had dark grey pants and steel cap boots, she had a cheerful expression as she looked around the place and at the few butlers who remained. Her companion on the other hand was not as pleased, in fact he was in a right old foul mood. The man had blue eyes yet his hair was concealed, he was wearing a dark blue coat with a hood over his head, black combat boots, black pants and a light brown shirt with a white double headed eagle on it, he also had the grumpiest expression that had been seen in Leanbox for a long time.

"Isn't this just exciting, Ares?" the blonde woman asked her companion cheerfully.

"No, no it isn't," Ares replied as he looked at the wall next to him. "Having a conversation with you right now is impossible, I'd get better responses from this frigging wall."

She looked over at him and smiled brightly. "Oh come on, don't be like that, this isn't too bad if you think about it. Besides," she then stared at Ares sternly with a deathly expression. "I wasn't the one who spent nearly all of our money."

"What? They had a sale on robotic parts, there was even a whole store filled with old computers and the like. You can't blame me for everything you know. If you want to blame someone blame the old man for not giving us a lot of money when he sent us out here three weeks ago."

"And we wouldn't be here if it weren't for you, we could have found what we were looking for if you hadn't spent three weeks doing jackshit! Now shut up and suffer. Besides, this place has cheap prices and good looking butlers, especially that one over there who's taking pictures alongside those girls."

Ares looked in the direction of his friend's gaze and saw a young man with combed down brown hair, blue eyes and was wearing a butler attire with a freshly clean apron around his waist, he was barely smiling as he posed next to two young women who were more than excited to be with a butler of sorts. Ares did not know why, but he felt something odd about the young butler, something felt out of place, as if there was an aura flowing from him that made him suspicious. However, when he look back at his companion he saw her call the young butler over with a wave and a call.

"Hey! Mr Butler! We need some service please!" she called out, waving for his attention.

Ares groaned and bashed his head on the table as the young, brown haired butler made his way to their table, notepad and pen in hand. When the young man arrived at the table he opened his notepad and looked down at the. "What would you like to order, madam and sir?" Mars asked, although Ares swore that he could sense a touch of disgruntlement in his tone.

"Ah yes, can I please have… wh-what?" the blonde woman began to say until she got a closer look at the butler's face. "H-Hold on a moment, I remember you, you were in Lastation looking for a raven weren't you?"

Mars' eyes opened wide with surprise as he recalled the last time he met this woman. "Yeah, I remember you alright, in fact I think you know what happened to that oversized raven who was spying on me."

Ares glanced at the shapeshifting woman and chuckled. "Sounds like you didn't tell me everything when you got back. Care to tell me who this boyfriend of yours is?"

"This doesn't involve you, fuckboy," Mars warned Ares rudely.

"Hey! You're supposed to be a butler, not a frigging rude poser! Bastard."

Mars growled like a dragon and snarled his teeth at Ares while the dark blue coated young man did the same as well as he stood up, he was having trouble trying to keep his energy under control due to the various warnings that the shapeshifting women had given him. Much to the blonde woman's and Ares' surprise Mars was doing exactly that, his body was glowing with the red energy as were his hands and eyes, a wicked grin formed on his face. "I have had enough of this fucking job! Want to take this outside, buddy?!" Mars challenged Ares.

"You got yourself a fight, fancypants!"

As Ares and Mars were about to clash the blonde, shapeshifting woman quickly stood up and bashed their heads together, the two young men fell to the ground in a dizzy state, their eyes swirling. She sighed and glanced around her, the whole butler restaurant was focused on her, Ares and Mars. With a disgruntled groan the blonde woman grabbed the two young men and dragged them out of the butler café, the scene had left everyone in a sour mood, especially at the CPU table. Uni eyed the blonde, C cup woman with suspicion and distrust, even Noire raised an eyebrow at her behavior as she exited the café with the two young men. Vert, Neptune and Nepgear watched curiously as Uni stood up and followed them outside while Noire shook her head, disapproving of her little sister's choice of action before deciding to follow her.

As soon as the shapeshifting woman had exited the café she made her way to a side street filled with a green dumpster and several full bags of trash, the walls of the buildings were crumbling and peeling away while the paved ground was full of weeds. It was here where she dumped both Mars and Ares roughly onto the ground, the two got back onto their feet in a hazy state. "The hell was that for?" Ares questioned his female companion. "I could've taken care of this jerk quick and clean."

"We've already aroused too much suspicion upon ourselves, in case you failed to notice the CPUs of three nations were nearby in that establishment," the young woman informed Ares in a harsh tone. "You've already caused enough trouble as it is with all your damn robots running amok and now you were prepared to destroy a perfectly great restaurant just because you wanted a fight? You're damn worthless. What would have your older brother said if he saw you right now?"

Ares growled viciously at her, causing her to step back a bit. " _Who. Cares._ He's dead and it doesn't matter. If you keep bringing him up I will show no mercy to you, Enyo, even if you are my battle companion."

Mars stared at the two of them, unsure whether to be confused or just plain bored by their petty argument, he had no interest in listening to them rabble about a dead brother or battle companions. Although he was interested in her name, it sounded like some sort of war deity like his chosen name and that of Ares. "Look, if you don't want me here, fine, just let me punch this guy a few times before I turn in my apron," Mars said to the young woman called Enyo.

Ares grumbled and spat at Mars. "Tch, can I just kill him already?"

Enyo shook her head as she whispered to Ares. "No, even if I said you could I'm sure you would have trouble with that endeavour. Can you not feel the energy emitting from him? It's like us, this guy is like us."

"Just cut the details and get to the point, I'm ready to kill you both anyway," Mars warned Enyo, unaware of what she had said to her companion.

"Tell me, what do you call yourself?" she asked him in a serious tone.

"I call myself Mars, and that is all you need to know. Now, get out of here before I change my mind."

Enyo nodded and began to walk off with Ares following closely behind her, growling in annoyance. Once they turned a corner and walked back onto the main street the two of them began to head over to the hotel they had been staying at for the last three weeks, Ares was humming to himself while Enyo was thinking over the short conversation she had with Mars. The young man looked at her and sighed depressingly. "You think he's good looking, don't you?" he asked her as he put his hands in his coat's pockets.

"Well, I suppose he's pretty good to look at. Does that make you jealous, Ares?"

Ares merely glanced away and grumbled in response, which resulted in Enyo giggling at him. Then suddenly something clicked in her mind, something that she should have recognised earlier. As soon as she stopped walking Ares also stopped and looked at her questioningly. "Enyo? What's wrong?" he asked her.

"Ares, message the boss as soon as we get back, tell him Subject 13 has been found."

* * *

Mars leaned up against the crumbling brick wall and sighed, he looked at his hands as he clenched them tightly. "Damn me and my anger issues," the young man muttered to himself, he then looked up at the street corner and shook his head. "Uni, I know you're there, and I guess the others are there as well."

The Lastation Candidate stepped out from behind the street corner and into Mars' viewing, the rest of the CPUs soon followed with Noire coming into view last. "You alright, Mars?" Uni asked him. "You got a bit roughed up back there."

"Yeah, I'm fine, no need to worry. If you're after the blonde girl and the dark blue coated bastard you'll have a hard time, they already left to goodness knows where." Mars looked up at Vert with a vicious glare and a snarling expression. "I am not doing this sort of thing again, try to force me and you'll end up as food for the crows."

"Are you sure about that, Mars? You were a big hit with the ladies back there," Vert asked, a smug expression on her face while her fingers became intertwined with each other.

"No. Screw this, I'm going back to Lastation."

"I can take you back if you want," Uni suggested.

Mars nodded. "Alright then, that's good enough for me."

Noire looked back at Vert and smiled at her. "Well, I sure had fun today, although I don't think I'll return to a butler restaurant unless Mars changes his mind anytime soon."

"Likewise, but I think I'll still go even if this fine, young man refuses to return," Vert said to Noire. "Keep yourself safe, Noire."

"I always do." She then turned her attention to Neptune while Nepgear and Uni said goodbye. "Neptune, don't bother me for a while, I'll be busy with work."

Neptune grinned mischievously and rubbed her hands together, a cheeky expression formed on her face as she looked back at Noire. "Ooooo, 'busy' are you? Or are you secretly wanting me to show up unexpectedly and give you a big, ol' surprise?"

"Of course not, you idiot. I mean it, I will be busy. It's that time of year again where things around my country gets extremely busy and I'll be up late with paperwork and goddess knows what, so do not even attempt to annoy me."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. You just want me to cheer you up but you just can't say it, you big ol' tsundere you."

As Noire yelled at Neptune, who rebuked her verbal abuse by trolling her in the true Nep-Nep way, Mars and Uni walked away from the group after parting from Nepgear, who said goodbye to them, and made their way back to the butler restaurant to pick up the young man casual clothes. Mars felt relieved that his time as a butler was over, it was clear that he did not have a good with the experience, although everyone else did. Uni looked at him and noticed the questioning expression on his face, the young man was thinking about something, possible of a recent event. The tsundere Candidate glanced in front of her and smiled. _Well, guess it doesn't matter. I kinda enjoyed today, although I won't let Nepgear know that or I'll never hear the end of it, would even be worse with Neptune I guess. I hope Mars learned a valuable lesson now: never make any bets with a gamer goddess._ Uni thought as she and Mars entered the butler restaurant for the last time.

* * *

 **A/N: Another chapter done and dusted, and one that I had fun with. Hehehehe... Mars being a butler and a fan of the ladies, pretty sure none of you readers saw that coming. Did you also notice how the raven shapeshifting woman, Enyo, has a name that comes from an actual goddess of war and/or goddess-like battle companion of the Greek god of war, Ares? It is very deliberate, now the current arc name is beginning to be explained, if there are to be any future OCs expect to see war deity names. Again, future updates will be irregular but they are starting to become more common, so keep an eye open. If you have any suggestions please inform me, otherwise have a great day readers.  
**


	10. Patching Up Differences

**Chapter 9: Patching Up Differences**

It was another bright and early day in Lastation, everything appeared to be as normal as one can be in a world full of goddesses, monsters and goodness knows what, but for one particular person nothing was going well, in fact their day as a whole so far was in utter shambles. As a cool breeze blew into the large office of the CPU of Lastation the prideful CPU herself was sitting in her large office chair, she was leaning forward with her hands on her face, her elbows were on the table, piles of paperwork littered the table and all around her. It was a busy day and it had not even struck midday yet, not to mention that she had another problem that was under her roof: Mars. The young man was an endless source of trouble for Noire.

"Urgh, why does Mars have to spend so much money on Nepsi and gun mods?" Noire asked herself, groaning in annoyance. "He's even worse than Uni when it comes to these sorts of matters. What the hell am I going to do?"

"What ails you, Lady Noire?" Kei ask as she approached the table, a large pile of paperwork was in her hands.

"Mars again, he's been spending a whole lot of money buying Nepsi and gun mods, he's spent so much money that he has resorted to borrowing loans off me." Noire groaned and leaned back into her chair. "Not only that but Neptune and Vert keep coming over to say hello, mainly to him. It's been making my work time a mess."

"Doesn't Mars go on quests? I thought he would have had a lot more money if he did."

Noire shook his head. "No, apparently there aren't any quests that interest him. I had a check at the Guild and it turns out that the only quests that are available involve fetching items and search for missing things. No fighting, no hunting or anything alike, just plain old boring quests, so basically rank D quests. Sheesh, now I'm starting to sound like Mars."

Kei placed the paperwork onto Noire's table and chuckled at the grumpy CPU. "I should not worry about it if I were you, I'm sure that there will be some quests to his liking in the near future."

"Well I wish it would hurry up, I've barely got any work done because of him and his antics!" Just then Noire's computer screen lit up, she turned her attention over to it and clicked on the video message icon, the screen was covered by the face of a blonde and blue eye girl, she was wearing a wide white hat with a purple N in the centre, light blue and purple pieces were attached to the sides, two blue and white tips of a set of wings could be seen on the screen. "Hello there, Histoire," Noire greeted as best she could. "Was there something you needed?"

"Just a heads up: Neptune and Nepgear are heading your way, I even believe Vert might be heading over as well, although I am not overly sure," Histoire informed Noire, she appeared concerned when the Lastation CPU groaned and bashed her head against the table. "Is something wrong, Noire?"

"Of course something is wrong! Those three have been coming over a lot more lately and that has been stuffing up my work schedule, I'm barely getting any work done as it is because of their interruptions." Noire sighed and rested her chin on the table, her gaze directed towards the computer screen. "Well, thanks for warning me anyway. Was there anything else you needed to discuss with me before I return to my work?"

Histoire nodded, affirming Noire's question. "Yes, there was one last point of discussion that I need to speak to you about. How is Mars coping?"

"Don't even get me started. He's an utter pain to live with and I can't wait to see the day he moves out, not to mention he owes me some money, and I intend to make sure he remembers it."

Histoire sighed. "I see, so you two are in some sort of rivalry, are you?"

"No, it isn't like that, we just… hate each other I guess." Noire glanced away with a depressed look on her face. "Although, I wouldn't mind if we got along like he does with Uni."

"Hmm? What was that last part?" Histoire asked, the tome fairy had failed to hear what Noire had mumbled about after she informed the Planeptunian Oracle about her thoughts of Mars.

"Wh-What?! Oh, nothing at all, don't worry about it." The Lastation CPU flailed her arms around and sat up straight in her chair, attempting to cover up what she had mumbled. Histoire did not looked convinced while Kei simple chuckled in amusement, resulting in Noire turning her gaze away from them and towards the large glass door and window panels to her right, she attempted to look for the flying figures of Purple Heart, Purple Sister and Green Heart, yet none came into view. _I'll admit, even though they ruin my whole work schedule and play antics against me with Mars, I guess I'm… I'm happy about it. Them being here, it makes me feel happy and less lonely, sorta I guess._ A small smile crept onto her face.

"Hmm? Why the smile all of a sudden, Noire?" Histoire asked.

"What? Oh, nothing important, don't worry about it," Noire responded as she kept her composure. "Anyway, I've got a lot of work to get done while also getting ready for some uninvited guests. Was there anything else you needed to tell me?"

The tome fairy nodded. "Yes, there was one last item of discussion that I need to talk to you about: is there a chance in the near future for Mars to come over to Planeptune so I can run some tests on him?"

"Tests? What sort of tests?"

"Nothing major, just a blood sample is all as well as a demonstration of his power. From what Nepgear has told me it seems that Mars may be on a whole different level than I previously anticipated, the power to regenerate one's body after being almost obliterated has never been heard of before, not to mention the peculiar growling that Mars is prone to issuing from what I heard. Does Mars have any free time?"

Strangely enough Histoire seemed a bit concerned, this did not escape the attention of Noire and Kei, who were more than eager to question why that was the case. "Are you feeling alright?" Kei asked Histoire. "You look a lot more worried than usual."

The fairy sighed, confirming Noire's and Kei's suspicions. "Yes, I'm afraid about this whole matter with Mars and whatever he may posses. I fear that we may discover something that we are not ready for and events may spiral out of our control, at least that is what I fear, judging from what descriptions I have received about Mars' behaviour and power, or powers, this may be something that I have not encountered before. I worry for the future of Gamindustri if Mars turns out to be more dangerous than we previously thought, especially if some rogue organisation goes after him."

"You shouldn't worry about it, Histoire," Kei said with a small smile and a hand on her hip. "So far Mars has kept himself out of trouble, well, sort of anyway, the butler incident down in Leanbox was concerning enough."

"Yes, I heard about that," Histoire sighed. "What possessed him to even agree to do that?"

"Vert won at a game, plus he never goes back on his word," Noire explained. As the CPU gazed in the direction of the balcony entrance to her right she saw three specks flying towards the Basilicom, the uninvited guests were in sight. "I can see Neptune and co in the distance, I better get ready for them. Was there anything else you needed to discuss with me, Histoire?"

The fairy shook her head. "No, that is all for now, just remember to convince Mars to come over to Planeptune some time in the future. Farewell for now."

The video call ended and Noire was left staring at a blank screen known as her desktop, she saw her own reflection and noticed how tired and worn out she was. _Wow, I didn't know that I looked so tired. Damn it, Neptune is going to make fun of me for this isn't she?_ He thoughts were interrupted when the nearby elevator opened and two figures walked out and into Noire's office, when they stepped in the Lastation CPU recognised them: it was Uni and Mars. The Candidate was holding her N-Gear in her right hand and smiled at her older sister while Mars failed to show any sort of interest in the slightest, Noire guessed - correctly - that they were in her office to see Neptune, Nepgear and Vert.

"Looks like they're right on time," Uni said as she took her eyes off the electronic device.

"Tell me again why those three are coming over?" Mars asked, clearly not in the right mood to entertain guests, which was something that Noire could relate too.

"They just like coming over, I guess you must have made a good impression with them or something. I never seen Vert come over here so many times though, guess you must have made her quite happy with that butler cafe incident. Oh, did she also make you her 'little brother'?" Uni sniggered with delight as Mars growled at her, his fingers clutching around each other.

"That was over two weeks ago, you think they might have forgotten it by now, but no they just had to keep mentioning it whenever I'm around, especially Vert. And… well, yeah, she did, that Vert is one hell of a loner if she wanted me to be her little brother. She sounds even lonelier than Noire." Fortunately for Mars the senior Lastation CPU failed to hear him. As he looked out the office he saw the three flying figures approach the balcony at an astonishing speed. "Actually, come to think of it I haven't seen Neptune in her HDD form before. I've seen Nepgear's and Vert's but not Neptune's. Funny, after all these weeks I should have by now. What does she look like after she's transformed anyway, Uni?"

"You'll find out, I don't want to spoil the surprise for you."

Mars raised an eyebrow at the Candidate as the three guests arrived on the balcony, Uni walked out to meet them along with Kei, Noire and Mars stared at each other for a moment before sighing. Both made their way after Uni and Kei onto the balcony where they were met by the CPUs of Planeptune and Leanbox, all three were in their HDD forms. Mars recognised Green Heart - which he found to be an eye opener - and especially Purple Sister, the two of them had spent quite a lot of time together due to her friendship with Uni. The third figure, however, was a complete mystery to the young man, he guessed that it was another CPU, possibly from Planeptune due to the purple hair and colour of the outfit she wore. _Who the hell is this woman? Where is Neptune? She should be here, she usually is._ Mars thought to himself as he eyed the strange, large breasted woman in front of him.

The purple haired woman was wearing a one piece, black swimsuit with purple and blue lining, a collar connected the swimsuit-like attire to the neck, a white N was visible on the collar, two black hair pieces with a blue '+' were in her hair, her eyes were light blue. She was looking at Uni and Purple Sister as they conversed in a conversation before turning her attention towards Mars, she smiled and approached him with the intent to greet him. "Hello, Mars. How are you so far today?" the strange yet friendly woman asked, it was as if she knew him.

"Um, I'm fine, thanks for asking. But who the hell are you? I haven't seen you before," Mars responded.

It was Noire who answered his question as soon as she walked up next to him. "That's Neptune in her HDD form, she's a lot more tolerable like this if you ask me. In HDD she is known as Purple Heart" The stunned expression that Mars had made the Lastation CPU realise that he had never seen Neptune in HDD.

"Seriously? That's Neptune?! Really?!" Mars shouted. "But she… but she's all boobified! How does that happen?! I can understand Vert's and Nepgear's situation while Uni's transformation is too confusing, but this is not what I was expecting from Neptune!"

Purple Heart raised her eyebrow and crossed her arms while Purple Sister and Green Heart chuckled, Noire sighed and shook her head while Uni unsure about whether to join her friends in their giggling or just get a little bit pouty at Mars. _If he got_ this _surprised at just seeing Neptune with breasts like that I can only imagine what his reaction would be if he saw me with large assets in HDD. Geez, he is kinda like a pervert now that I think about it._ Uni thought to herself, watching Mars unleash his thoughts.

The CPU of Planeptune, despite her expression, was having too much fun with Mars. When she realised earlier in the morning that the young man had yet to see her HDD form she knew there was no better time to reveal it, after all, she knew how different she was after transforming and that was definitely going to get a reaction out of the young man. The reaction the CPU received was exactly what she had expected, and she was enjoying it. Soon enough her expression changed from a distant and lifeless look to one that resembled a mixed seductive and pleased expression. "Like what you see, Mars?" she asked in a soothing voice as she neared the young man, leaning down slightly which gave him a good view of her cleavage.

Mars stopped his rambling and stared sternly at Purple Heart, he looked at her breasts, hips and thighs, he hummed quietly and stuck his right thumb up in approval. "Yep, I like what I see," Mars replied, nodding his head.

As Purple Heart laughed she took notice of Uni from the corner of her eyes, she noticed how the Candidate was paying attention to the conversation, she did not look to be in the best of moods. Purple Heart grinned mischievously at Uni as the Candidate approached her and Mars with Nepgear at her side. "Hmm? Feeling jealous, Uni?" Purple Heart asked, grinning away as she placed her left hand on Mars' right shoulder.

The Lastation Candidate growled at Purple Heart as her cheeks flushed red, her annoyance overcoming her thoughts and emotions. "I'm not jealous, Neptune!" Uni responded loudly. "Dammit, why does everyone make fun of me whenever something like this happens?!"

"Welcome to my world, Uni," Noire said knowingly, her arms crossed before her.

Vert shared no further interest with the conversation after that, instead she walked up to Mars and wrapped her arms around the young man tightly, his head was forcibly buried into her bosom. "We haven't had our greetings yet, my dear little brother," Vert said to Mars, her expression was full of happiness. The young man, however, was unable to respond with words, instead he slightly knocked Vert on the head, signalling her to release him before he suffocated to death. Vert, suddenly noticing Mars' situation, let go of him and chuckled. "Feeling any better? I sure hope so."

"Yeah, don't worry about it," Mars responded, he appeared to be fine despite being nearly suffocated on accident. "Just give me a warning before you go doing that again to me."

"Very well. Now come along with me, we have got to catch up on our gaming time." The bountiful goddess looked over at Nepgear and smiled at her as well. "Come along now, my dear Nepgear, you're coming with us too."

"What? Oh, alright then, wait for me," Purple Sister responded as she reverted back to human form, the CPU Candidate then followed Vert and Mars into the Basilicom, the young man was being literally dragged into the building by the blonde goddess who was more than excited about playing a few rounds of one of the available games.

Uni quickly followed the three of them and reentered the Basilicom alongside them, even Kei - who had been excused by Noire - followed them, as they made their way to the gaming room Noire and Neptune entered the Basilicom and stood around Noire's desk in her office, the Lastation CPU sat back down in her chair and got herself comfortable while the pudding obsessed goddess skipped around the office. Noire sighed and shook her head at the sight. "Do you always have to be full of energy, Neptune?" Noire asked, clearly he was slightly annoyed or just overall grumpy. "It's getting rather annoying just watching you jump and hop around like that."

Neptune stopped and walked over to Noire, peering down at her with a cheeky grin. "Aw, looks who tired. Are you jelly that I'm full of energy while you're just like an old woman?"

"Grrrr! Why you little… grah! Damn you!" Noire bashed her head on the table and groaned loudly. "Why am I the one who is always being picked on?"

The Planeptunian CPU patted her counterpart on the back, a caring smile spread across her face. "Ah don't worry 'bout it, my dear tsundere, you'll be fine."

Noire would have grumbled and chewed Neptune out just for calling her a tsundere, but the Lastation CPU was too grumpy to respond, plus she was appreciating the fact that Neptune was actually being caring for once. Noire lifted her head up and rested her chin on the tabletop, her eyes were dropping low and Neptune could see the dark shades of skin underneath Noire's eyes, indicating that she had stayed up late with working on the paperwork for the last two weeks. Yet even Neptune, for all her antics and overall an incompetent goddess, could tell that there was more to Noire's problems than just a work overhaul. "So, what's wrong with ya, my fifth favourite CPU?" Neptune asked, her grin widening as Noire reacted.

"What?! Fifth favourite?! Who are the other four?" Noire asked quickly and without hesitation. She had always thought that she was at least either number one or two on Neptune's favourite CPU list, however, to hear that she was listed as fifth was an utter disgrace to her.

"Easy: me, myself, I and Nep Jr of course," Neptune replied, counting the numbers on each finger on her left hand.

"Why do you count as three people? And why are you even on the list to begin with? I can understand Nepgear being on it but why you three times?"

"Technically the number should be infinite due to how many versions of me are running around in other dimensions, the authors of the fanfiction site absolutely _love_ having me in their fanfics. But just for convenience's sake I trimmed it down to three."

Noire sighed and facepalmed, her annoyance was plain to see. "Stop with all these stupid fourth wall breaking shenanigans already, Neptune," Noire growled, her eyes glaring at the CPU of Planeptune who was giggling away like a little kid on a sugar rush.

"Can't help it, Noire, just gotta do it, you know. Now come on, you haven't answered my question yet. What's gotten your panties in a twist?"

The Lastation CPU sighed, finally relenting to Neptune's question. "It's Mars, that idiot has been getting on my nerves lately. Again." Noire crossed her arms and sat up straight in her chair, her stare was directed at Neptune who was now sitting on the corner of her desk, much to the tsundere's chagrin.

"Ah don't worry about it, I'm sure you'll be a-okay."

"I wish, but he also owes me money and I doubt he has even considered paying his debts me, not to mention that he gets along with everyone just fine except me. Even Uni gets along with him just fine, well, most of the time anyway. I just don't get it sometimes."

Neptune stared at Noire for a short moment before breaking out in a bout of giggles. "Oh, so someone _is_ lonely after all."

"What?! No! It isn't like that at all!" Noire looked away and sighed deeply. "It's just, well, all we ever do is argue over and over again. I don't mean to do it, but our personalities clash too often, sometimes I don't think he even means to do it, it just happens."

"Does that mini-tsun of yours clash with him all the time as well?"

Noire shrugged. "Sometimes, but not all the time, lately they have been staying out of each other's ways. Guess they only get together when a promising quest appears or if Mars needs something, or maybe even if they feel like playing a few games when you, Nepgear and Vert come over. I think Uni is mainly just staying out of his way just to keep me happy. I don't hate Mars, but he is damn annoying at times."

"Then why don't you try to patch up your differences with him?" Neptune suggested, being surprisingly helpful.

Noire stared at Neptune, wondering if she was actually being serious or just joking around, but the idea did not sound too bad, at least it gave the opportunity to clear the air a bit. Although, the CPU knew that even if she were to go along with Neptune's idea there would still be a large obstacle in the way: Mars himself. "Well, I suppose I can give it a try, after all, I don't want to live under the same roof as him if we can't at least attempt to get along," Noire said as she stood up out of her seat, the haughty CPU walked out of her office with Neptune following closely behind her, eager to see what would happen next.

When Noire and Neptune arrived in the gaming room they saw Mars, Uni, Negear and Vert sitting on the couch side-by-side, the four of them were holding console controllers in their hands and their attention was focused on the game they were playing, Kei was nowhere to be seen however, although Noire guess that the Oracle was in the kitchen. Uni was the first to notice their presence, she looked up and a small smile appeared on her face, her concentration both on the game and her sister. "Hey there, Noire. Finish doing paperwork for the day?" Uni asked before turning her full attention back to the game she was playing with the other three.

"Yeah, just for the day though," Noire replied. "Hey, Uni, mind if I speak with you for a moment?"

"Sure thing. Neptune, you take my place."

Neptune swiftly, and enthusiastically, took the controller and took Uni's place on the couch as the Lastation Candidate stood up and followed her older sister out into the hallway. Once they were out of the gaming room Noire leaned up against the wall and looked at Uni sternly. "Uni, tell me, how are you and Mars so close?" she asked her younger sister.

"We aren't close, it's just mutual respect I suppose," Uni replied, unsure about where the conversation was heading. "Why are you asking me this?"

"Well, it was suggested to me by Neptune that I should try to mend my problems with Mars, and his problems with me. I just thought you would have some good ideas is all." Noire scratched the back of her head, somewhat anxious about the whole endeavour.

"Hmm, well, I'm going to be checking the Guild for any quests in three days, hopefully they would have something of interest by then, at least I hope so. Want to come along? If there are any quests available that happen to be interesting, by interesting I mean quests ranked from B to S, then I'll let you know. It could help with you and Mars with your teamwork. How about it?"

Noire rubbed her chin thoughtfully, from how Uni described it the idea was not half bad, the senior CPU finally nodded in agreement after mulling it over for a around a minute, resulting in Uni to smile brightly. "Very well, Uni, I'll go along with your idea, but it's only because it is the only idea that has surfaced so far, not because it's the best. Besides, it'll hopefully fill Mars' pockets with enough credits to pay back all that money he owes me."

Uni tilted her head and raised an eyebrow. "Mars owes you money? But last I saw he had plenty of money hidden away in his room, and that was only yesterday afternoon when I went to retrieve one of my gun magazines that I lent to him."

Noire was flabbergasted and merely stood by the wall in shock, surprise and anger, the rage within her was slowly building up until she could no longer contain it. Noire's rage burst out of her system "WHAT?! Are you being serious, Uni?! Mars actually has money?! So he didn't need to ask me for money at all?!"

Uni nodded, she was starting to be a little afraid for her own safety now that Noire had lost the plot, although she knew that her older sister would do no harm to her no matter how enraged she was. The Lastation CPU managed to control her words, but instead chose to march off back to her office in silence, hoping to catch Mars off guard one day so she could exact her revenge. Uni, meanwhile, sighed and shook her head as she returned to the gaming room. Overall it was just another day in the Lastation Basilicom, yet the CPU Candidate could only wonder what would happen in three days time, if there were any suitable quests to be completed.

* * *

 **A/N: 'She's all boobified!' Yeah, that's what I thought the first time I played the games. For today this is all just a fluffy chapter that involves the complex, yet not so complex, relations between Mars, Uni and Noire. This was as short chapter overall, but it sets the stage for the next chapter, and that will be out whenever I get the time to do it. If you readers have any suggestions, ideas and/or requests then please inform me, I'll read just about everything you guy – or ladies – have. Thanks for reading this and have yourselves a great day, or try to at least.**


	11. The Nemesis of Share Energy

**Chapter 10: The Nemesis of Share Energy**

As the sun began to creep over the eastern horizon of Gamindustri a lone figure stood atop a rocky formation along a mountain range, the cool breeze blew across the figure's face, sending loose strands of hair across the face of the figure. The lone person brushed her blonde hair aside and sighed as the rays of sunlight enveloped on the land, the city in the distance began to wake up, but for the lone woman it was nothing to mull over, she had been awake for around an hour or longer. With one last glance at the city she turned away and walked down a rocky path down the mountain range and further towards the base of the mountains where trees and grassy plains were in abundance. Her companion was going to be awake very soon with the rising sun up and about.

Just as the woman had correctly thought her companion was awake, his hair was messy and was sticking up under his nightcap, his eyes were droopy and he staggered around the small campsite, bending forward with a frying pan in his right hand while his left hand held a fork, his dark blue coat was hanging loosely off his shoulders while only one sleeve was occupied. When the blonde woman jumped off a large rock and landed on the grassy ground with a loud thud the man looked around for a short moment, his blue eyes glared at his companion before he returned his gaze to the frying pan and whatever was in it, he was not a morning person, especially when the time was around half past six in the morning. As the woman walked up to the blue eyed man she smiled slightly, trying to be as friendly as she could despite feeling pissed off.

"Feeling alright?" the blonde woman asked the sleepy man as she stood next to him, she noticed that the frying pan contained fried eggs and bacon, the scent was making her hungry and her mouth almost watered.

"Does it look like I'm alright?" the man replied with a narky tone. "Just my luck to get posted out here in the middle of nowhere, hell, we can barely do anything out here. Just what the hell was that stupid old man thinking?"

"We have our mission, and I will not fail it. Just do your best so we can get outta here and back to the base, or else it will be _both_ of us in trouble this time."

The young man shrugged as he continued to eat his cooked meal. "Ain't my problem."

The blonde woman, obviously already more than pissed off with the young man, snarled and grabbed her companion by the collar of his brown shirt, he dropped his fork and the frying pan and flailed around as he gripped the woman's arm, trying his best to get out of her grasp. The effort was in vain. The blonde woman threw the young man across the field out of the campsite and into a tree, he slide down the tree trunk until he reached the base of it, when he looked up he saw his companion's eye turn blood red and her anger intensifying. " _It. Is. Your. Damn. Problem,_ " the blonde woman growled viciously, her right fist clenched into a tight ball and her knuckles reddened.

"What the fuck did I do?!" the young man demanded, his own eyes turning blood red as did his entire body.

"You bloody well know what!" her eye returned to their natural green colour and she sat down on a nearby log, crossing her arms and sighed in defeat. "You're such a damn idiot, I don't even know how you managed to survive this long without someone killing you, Ares."

He stood up and grinned while brushing dirt off his clothes. "Simple: I'm invincible, no one can kill me. Not the old man, not you, not even that Subject 13 guy we should be looking for instead of the other bastards. I am the god of war, the chosen one of Project Ares, I am the herald of woe and all who stand against me will be slaughtered!"

The woman, Enyo, sighed with despair and rubbed her temples. "By all that his holy, do you have to be so stuck up arogant? Jeez, sometimes I wonder if you have actually got some sort of mental problem. Besides, you aren't invincible, you got beaten up by the boss' guards because you stole all of his robots and caused a lot of unnecessary deaths."

"Tch, I let them do that to me, you've got it all wrong." He crossed his arms and glanced away, clearly annoyed at his pride being torn down around him by Enyo. "If you think that I'd just be beaten up without my consent then you know nothing about me."

"You're wrong. I've known you ever since childhood, I know everything about you, especially what you have forgotten, including your real name."

"Hmph. Whatever, I don't care about that. I am Ares, _the_ God of War, and that is all I need to be known as." Ares grinned malevolently and chuckled, flexing the muscles in his hands as red energy sprang forth in a red mist, coating his hands and arms in it.

Enyo looked away, she was unable to continue to glance at her only friend - if one could even call it a friendship at all. _He's gone mad with power, they all have. Every single member of Project Ares is a madman or a madwoman, barely able to contain the rage within, it makes me sick, all of it does. Just what is the Director's plan anyway? He's building himself an army of… I don't know really, I don't think we even have a name apart from 'subjects'. Did this problem ever present itself in Project Mars? I wonder, is Subject 13 mad with power? Hard to say._ Enyo thought, attempting to reason the actions of the Director - also known by the nickname 'boss' and 'old man' - as well as the madness that gripped all those who were infused with the red energy and the crystals that the power came from.

The blonde, shapeshifting woman had a rough life, and not including her childhood which was also troubling. She continued to hear Ares laugh like a maniac, the red energy had engulfed his entire body while he did nothing else but stand and laugh. Enyo clasped her hands over her ears and bowed down until her head was between her knees, a look of despair and anger washed over her face as her thoughts turned once more to Ares, the Director and Project Ares altogether. _Damn it, damn it all! He never used to be like this, he never thought of himself so highly, or as a war god, he doesn't even remember his own name. Well, I can't blame him for that, the blame goes to the boss and his memory wipe machine. Of all the things that could have survived the destruction of Project Mars that just had to be it. At least I manage to get back some his memories, but not all, specifically those concerning his name, family and even forgetting his brother's name and looks. Things never go right for me, do they?_

The mildly busty woman reached into one of the pockets in her pants and pulled out an old photo, it was worn out and signs of weathering could be plainly seen. She smiled sadly as she stared at the three figures in the centre of the photo, one was a younger version of her with longer blonde hair, smaller breasts and a childlike happy expression as she had her arms wrapped around the necks of two young boys. The image of the boy on the left hand side of the photo was the most weatherworn of the whole image, his face could barely be seen and only a small set of teeth with a cheeky grin could be seen, the boy on the right appeared to be a younger version of Ares, his hair was short yet the colour was faded, his expression was completely grumpy, his arms were crossed in front of him defiantly. Enyo held into the photo tightly and did her best from crying, her past memories with those two boys had been the happiest moments of her life, now only one childhood friend was left and he had turned a madman.

"Eh? What's this?" Ares asked as soon as he had walked up to Enyo, he appeared to be a bit more calm as the madness had drifted away again.

"What? Oh, it's a picture of you, your older brother and I when we were younger," the blonde, shapeshifting woman replied in a quiet voice. "Do you remember it?"

Ares scratched his chin for a short moment before shrugging. "Meh, I don't know and I don't care to know, all that matters now is what we should be doing - or rather what I prefer to be doing. Being here is making me crazy, we should be out around Lastation, looking for Subject 13 like the others, but instead we get sent out here just because there might be another one of those fricking red stone things around. Where the hell does the old man even get his information from anyway?"

Enyo shrugged, she did not feel like talking any further to the madman who had come to call himself Ares. She looked over at the young man, who had now walked away and had resumed eating his early morning breakfast, he was sitting on the log with his back to her and the only sounds that came from him was the sounds of eating. The young, blonde woman sighed and stood up before walking out of the campsite and into the forest, she needed to be alone and away from anyone. After many minutes of walking past all sorts of trees and through the bushes she made it into the deepest part of the forest, only the sounds of chirping birds echoed through the area. Enyo glanced around and did not utter a single noise as her skin began to change, jet-black feathers began to grow out of the skin in her arms, chest, back, gut and face, her blonde hair began to turn into a darker shade as her facial features sharpened.

 _Time to scout around the area again, don't want any adventurers coming across the campsite by either mistake or on purpose._ Enyo then clasped her hands together as a dark shade of green began to form around her like magical energy. " **Raven Spirit!** "

The dark green energy surrounded Enyo's figure as she began her transformation, her body began to shift from a human to a raven, her bones reformed themselves and her features made the necessary changes, the process took several minutes and all throughout it Enyo felt as if she was being torn apart by internal forces. When the green energy died away an oversized black raven with green stood in her place, but the raven was young woman, she had merely transformed into her beast form. Enyo was not just like a raven, she was a raven. The shapeshifter took off into the air and began to fly around the area to the northeast, she was doing this in secret due to where she wanted to go.

* * *

"Where exactly are we supposed to be heading anyway?" Mars asked Uni as they and Noire walked along one of the stone roads that led out of Lastation City, their destination was to the southeast of the city.

"We're heading to the southeast towards a small woodland area, according to the description of the A rank quest there are some dangerous monsters that are occupying the ruins of some sort of ancient building or something," Uni explained to the young man. "It's our job to clear them out and make the roads are safer in the process."

"That's good and all, but what's so important about clearing out some ruins anyway?"

Uni shrugged. "I don't know, but the person who put in the quest wants the monsters wiped out. Look on the bright side, we'll get a ten thousand credit reward."

"Isn't that reward a bit big for a A rank quest?" Noire asked, suspicious about the whole thing.

Once again Uni shrugged in response. "I don't really know, Noire, I just thought it would be good for the three of us to do together."

Silence reigned over the group as the three of them made their way down the abandoned stone road to the southeast where the location of their chosen quest was, none of them had anything else to say or to add to the conversation so things died out quickly between the three of them. The road was devoid of life and barren, the stones were old and covered in grass, moss and vines, it was as if it came from another age entirely. Mars, despite his two year travel, had never been in this part of Lastation before so his knowledge was useless at this point. The young man looked over at Uni and Noire, who were just ahead of him, and say that they were not keenly interested in the ruined stone road, they were more interested in getting to the quest location than anything else it seemed.

 _I can only wonder what the past was like, hell, I think it would be interesting to know about Lastation's ancient history. I wonder if Uni will tell me about it. Although, now that I think about it, it may not be all that interesting at all, it is Lastation after all._ Mars thought as he tried to keep up the pace with the two CPUs in front of him.

Time passed as Mars, Uni and Noire continued to walk, the entire endeavour was wearing Mars out, it was clear that he had not been out and about lately due to his laidback attitude and movements. Then a thought struck the young man. "Hold on, why are we even walking over to the location? Couldn't you two just fly over there while holding me?" Mars asked the two CPUs of Lastation.

"It would merely use up some of our energy, therefore it makes sense for us to walk," Norie explained without glancing at the young man, who had finally caught up with them. "Besides, you aren't complaining, are you?"

"I just might with you around," Mars mumbled to Noire, not caring whether she heard his words or not.

"What was that? You say something?"

"It depends: how pissed off are you already?"

"Can the two of you stop arguing already? You're like an old couple," Uni requested with a grumpy tone, her own patience waning thin just from the mindless bickering that was occurring, although, Uni knew that she was no better than her older sister when it came to Mars.

Noire sighed and silently agreed to Uni's terms while blushing at the thought of being a couple with Mars, she then kept her attention directly in front of her from there on out. The young man on the other hand merely shrugged and placed his hands in his pockets, his glance turned towards the scenery around them so he could keep his attention away from the haughty Lastation CPU. Although, the Candidate would at times feel Mars' gaze fall on her back, it felt as if he would stare into her very soul. Uni was unsure why this was the case but she felt as if Mars was judging her or something akin to that, overall it did not seem very positive to her. Although all the bickering that occurred between Noire and Mars was putting a strain between the two, it was making the whole endeavour to patch up their differences meaningless.

 _This is becoming unbearable, this was supposed to be a way to make Noire and Mars get along, but I guess that's gone out the window already. I can only hope that this mission will help cement some sort of friendship._ Uni thought as she took the lead with Mars behind her and Noire to her left, silence had fallen over the three of them once more as they continued on their way.

After a while the group arrived at the end of the stone road, they knew that the road had ended due to the stones disappearing into the earth, the woodlands were now surrounding them completely except for a small area to the north, there Mars could see the silhouette of an abandoned factory far into the distance near a rocky field. The group could hear the sounds of birds chirping in the nearby trees and the occasional breeze that blew the branches and bushes around the place, apart from that the area seemed to be devoid of life. Noire glared at the woodlands around her, she appeared suspicious about the whole thing. "Something doesn't seem right, there's something that's off. Where are the monsters? They should be here."

"Maybe they're just up ahead and all of your complaining is getting them aggravated, just as I am," Mars suggested condescendingly, he would have chuckled if he knew how when Noire growled at him. "Regardless, Noire does have a point about the monsters that are supposedly here. Where the hell are they? If you are correct, Uni, then the ruins should just be around over there." Mars pointed to the northeast. "Which should mean that whatever is there should be aware about us by now."

"But if that's the case then where are they?" Uni asked as she summoned her gun.

Mars shrugged. "I have no clue. Perhaps these monsters are expert hunters are are merely waiting for us to do something stupid, or maybe there aren't any around. Who can say? Anyway, we should split up and investigate the area just to be sure."

Norie glanced over at the young man and glared at him. "Hold up! Who made you the team leader? _I'm_ the team leader!"

"Pfft, yeah right. If anything Uni is the team leader, better her than you. Besides, I actually respect Uni as a leader, and she's a pretty good person," Mars said as he gripped the handle of one of his axes, ignoring the glaring look he was receiving from Noire and the slight blush that radiated from Uni's face. "So, Uni, what's the plan?"

The CPU Candidate, still blushing from the unintentional compliment that she received from Mars, flustered at first before giving an answer. "W-W-Well, er, h-how about we just split up and search the area for a while before regrouping here? Let's say… about half an hour? Yeah, we'll meet back here in half an hour. Is that alright with you, Noire?"

The prideful CPU looked over at her younger sister, her annoyance had not died down. "Yeah, sure, whatever," was all the Lastation CPU said as she materialised her sword. "I'll look to the southeast, see you both here in thirty minutes."

As Noire walked off to investigate the southeast area Uni looked on with a depressed expression across her face, she clenched her left fight tightly and stared at it with a saddened look in her eyes. As Noire disappeared from sight Mars walked up next to the Candidate and stared at her. "Hey, what's up with you? You alright?" he asked the troubled CPU.

Uni jumped slightly as her attention was directed towards the young man. "Huh? Y-Yeah, I'm fine, really." Her tone of voice sounded the opposite of what she was saying, causing Mars to raise an eyebrow in response.

"Is that so? Your tone is indicating the exact opposite."

Uni glared at Mars as she began to storm off towards the east in a quickened pace. "Sh-Shut up already and start searching the northeast!"

Mars watched as the tsundere Candidate walked off into the bushes that led eastward, he soon lost sight of her as she disappeared through the dense trees, leaving only squashed leaves and broken branches behind. The young man sighed and walked off to the northeast, hoping to stay away from the two of them for a while, he did not feel like having company at that moment. _Better to be alone for this one, wouldn't want Noire yelling in my ear or Uni telling me what to do. No, better to do this by myself, at least for now anyway._ Mars thought to himself as he snapped a branch off a tree and threw it behind him.

As Mars strolled through the woodlands he arrived at a clearing that was partially surrounded by a few trees, in the centre stood the remains of a stone building that appeared to have been there for centuries due to the weathering of the stones. All that was left of the building was a stone foundation and crumbled walls that stood around two to three feet tall in certain areas, the ruined building was larger than the young man had originally guessed as he walked through the ancient ruins, it appeared that it could have been a mansion of some sorts, or maybe even something sinister. Nonetheless, the ruins were of no concern to the young man, all he cared about was whether there were any monsters around or not, and from what the young man had seen so far he guessed that there were none.

"Well, this is boring," he muttered. "Guess I might as well head back to the check up point and wait for the tsundere sisters." As he began to walk back he sensed something nearby in the trees, something did not feel right at all. He stopped walking and turned his head to the right where a few trees were growing out of a concrete foundation in the ground, the young man's gaze fell upon the top of one of the trees where the branches and leaves had condensed together like a huge bush. "Alright, get outta there, I know you're hiding in there. If you don't come out I'll make you."

The leaves rustled around for a moment before all was silent again, Mars growled and decided to walk away instead, that was until something, or someone, burst forth out of the tree and lunged at the young man. The mysterious attacker tackled Mars to the ground and together the two of them skidded across the bumpy field until they smashed into one of the ruined stone walls, Mars kicked his attacker off him and jumped up to his feet as he grabbed one of his axes. "Who the hell are you?!" Mars demanded, his eyes glowing blood red.

The strange attacker stood up off the ground and fully revealed himself to Mars, it was a young man, or at least looked like a young man to Mars' eyes. The stranger had orange eyes, dark blonde hair with bangs that covered his forehead, ears and neck, he was wearing a dark green cloak and hood which camouflaged him in the woodlands and bushes, along with it he also wore a dark brown leather cuirass, leather gauntlets and boots, dark brown pants with pieces of leather strapped to the legs and a belt was strapped around his waist. Mars found the man's attire to be completely weird, in fact it stood out as being entirely not normal, it was as if the attacker was trying to be like a ranger out of a fantasy novel.

"Who the hell are you? Answer, or I'll gut you where you stand," Mars threatened the mysterious ranger-like person as the young man grabbed his other axe and readied himself for combat.

"My name is of no importance to you," the stranger replied, his voice cold and and lifeless. "What matters right now is my purpose."

"And what would that be?"

"To retrieve you, that is my mission."

Mars raised an eyebrow, clearly surprised that someone had sent an odd person just to get him. "Oh really? Care to tell me who sent you before I rip you apart?"

The ranger-like figure said nothing, instead a grin formed on his face as he unsheathed two daggers that he kept on his belt around his back, then to Mars' astonishment the stranger's eyes turned blood red. "Maybe you already know, Subject 13," the stranger replied, his lifeless voice turning into one filled with malice.

Mars stopped moving and stared dumbfounded at the ranger-like person, his eyes widened with shock and his mouth tremored with fear, his axes fell to the ground as his hands began to twitch, the memories of the past flooded his mind. It had been two years since Mars had last heard that name, despite his usual tough guy demeanor there was another side to him that no one had seen before: fear. The young man was afraid for the first time in two years, and the stranger knew it. The ranger-like person grinned malevolently as he began to approach Mars slowly.

"Ah, so you do remember your name, and you do feel fear after all. This good, well, good for me and my comrades at least, not so for you." As the stranger stood directly in front of Mars he slowly moved his knives closer and closer to the young man without him knowing. "Heh, you know, I was told to bring you back to the old man in one piece, but he never said I could do no harm to you."

Mars looked at the stranger with a surprised look before the ranger-like person lunged forward and slammed his daggers into the young man's body through his gut, he swiped his arms upwards and his daggers cut through Mars' flesh, tearing through his stomach, lungs and other organs before the short blades slashed out of the young man's body. As Mars staggered back with blood pouring out of his deep wounds the attacker roundhouse kicked his brown haired opponent across the head, sending him flying into a nearby tree head first. The ranger-like person grinned as he began to walk over to Mars, he now held his daggers upside down, his body was encased with a thin layer of red energy that seemed to quicken his motions.

"What's wrong, Subject 13? Don't feel like fighting? Well that's a bummer, seems like I won't be having that much fun after all." As he stood near Mars, who was struggling to get up off the grassy ground, the ranger-like person stared down at the young man with disdain. "Heh, you're weak. Well, you are just a mere prototype after all. But still, from what I heard about you I figured you would put up more of a fight. What do you say about me going after your dear, little CPU Candidate instead, eh?"

Mars looked up, his blood red eyes flaring brightly than before. "You keep away from Uni, and her older sister as well," Mars growled viciously, his anger returning to him. "Or else I'll tear you limb from limb!"

The attacker grinned malevolently. "Ah, so you do care for her, and perhaps even her sister. Good, very good. When I get back to you with the Candidate's severed head I want you to fight me like you have never fought before."

As the ranger-like person began to walk off Mars' body flared up with the red energy, his anger had reached a height it had never felt before. _Uni… he's going after Uni! Screw him… I'll kill him, I'll kill him and whoever also came with him!_ Mars thought as he silently grabbed his sniper rifle off his back, he knelt on the ground, quickly aimed and fired several rounds at his opponent. To the young man's surprise his opponent had managed to run out of the way and was standing next to him.

"Tch, how predictable," he said with disdain. The blonde ranger then savagely kicked Mars across the face before sheathing his daggers away, he then held out his right hand and Mars watched as a red mist swirled around the palm of the man's hand, within a few seconds a longsword with a red blade and two handed hilt had appeared. The ranger stared at Mars as his blood red eyes glowed brightly. "Well now, let's make this interesting, shall we?"

Mars roared in a dragon-like manner at the ranger, causing him to put his hand over his ears and drop his sword, he glared at Mars as he struggled to remain on his feet. _What manner of attack is this? I don't recall the Director telling me about this! None of us have this power, not even those who were created first have this ability. It's as if I'm fighting a dragon!_ The ranger thought as he attempted to walk forward with his hands still clasped over his ears, but the roar was seeping into his mind, blocking his thoughts and hurting his very soul. He did not know why, but he felt something he had never felt before: fear. _Tch, no, that can't be right. I am a soldier of the Director, I am the best that Project Ares has to offer!_ I _should be Ares, not that brat of a man who thinks he's above everyone else! But still, I should not have come alone._

As the dark blonde haired man overcame his fear Mars pounced at him, he bellowed loudly and swung an axe at his opponent, the ranger barely had time to duck and grab his sword before a booted foot collided with his face, resulting in the blonde man to skid across the ground and into one of the ruined stone walls. He looked up and growled as Mars charged forward at him, now brandishing both of his axes, the ranger-like person snarled viciously and leapt onto his feet and out of the way of an oncoming attack. Using his red energy the blonde man quickened his speed and ran around Mars in circles, to the young, brown haired man his opponent was a mere blur.

Without warning Mars felt a fist collide with his gut with extreme force, sending flying on way before he was hit in the back, the young man swore that he heard his spine crack as he cried out in pain. Then came a barrage of furious punches and kicks, Mars felt fists and booted feet smash all over his body, his bones snapped and cracked as the relentless assault refused to stop, Mars tried to move yet the attacks rendered him into an almost paralysed state. Then came the red blade's turn to leave its mark, the sword slashed and pierced through Mars' flesh, cleaving through his arms, legs, torso and chest, severing parts off his body in a bloody mess.

"This should finish it. **Sonic Crush!** " the ranger shouted as he rushed forward once more, the hilt of his sword smashed across Mars' face and sent him hurdling one way before the blonde haired man started to pummel his fists into the young man's body, shattering what remained of his bones. The ranger then grinned as he grabbed Mars by the intestines and began to swing him around quickly for a few minutes before throwing him into a tree, sending it crashing to the ground, leaving only a broken tree atop a bloody mess of bones, clothing and flesh. "Heh, that's my special attack. Bloody I know, but it gets the job done quickly. Anyone subjected to it never survives, in fact I would be very surprised if you survived at all. The old man never specified if I was to take you to him dead or alive you know."

To the ranger's shock his brown haired opponent began to rise off the ground, his severed limbs and other body parts began to grow back as a red mist engulfed him, rebuilding his body from the ground up. Body bits moved back to their owner as he stood up off the ground before landing on his feet, the red mist continued to surround him as his bones and flesh mended themselves. The blonde haired man gritted his teeth and growled with annoyance, he had been under the impression that his target was unable to do this. When the red, glowing mist evaporated Mars glared viciously at the ranger, he took hold of his two pistols and his dragon-like roar seeped through his teeth.

"Time to die," Mars muttered in an inhuman way. The young man swiftly lifted his arms in front of him and began to open fire at his opponent, bullets flew through the air and sprayed all over the place before he had to reload, and then start the process all over again.

The blonde ranger ran around the field as he dodged round after round of bullets, hiding behind trees he peered over towards his opponent and muttered under his breath as he saw the crazed look on Mars' face. "What's wrong, ranger? Can't face up to hell itself? A god of war?" Mars taunted his opponent as he reloaded his pistols once again. "Come out and face me! I dare you!"

The green cloaked ranger snarled as he held his red sword closely to him, the blade reflected his angered expression on the shiny red steel. "Tch, another person calling himself a god of war, how pathetic. I have to finish this quickly, or else my reputation is a goner."

The blonde ranger ran out from behind his safe spot and ran around the young man once again, as before Mars saw only a human shaped blur speed around him with red energy flowing around his body that flickered like a flame on a candle. Mars spun around and fired several more bullets at his opponent, missing his target again and again, causing him to roar in a fit of rage. The ranger saw an opening for a killer blow and struck forward, the blade of his red sword neared Mars' neck in an attempt to sever his head from his neck before a gunshot was heard. The blonde man continued to run forward but instead collided with a nearby tree and fell to the ground, his face bloodied from the collision and his back had a large bullet hole in it, blood flowed down from the wound and onto the grass.

Mars turned around and saw Uni standing nearby with her rifle in her hands, it was her who had fired upon the bloodthirsty ranger. "You alright, Mars?" Uni asked as she ran up to the young man.

Mars nodded. "Yeah, a bit roughed up but I'll manage. What took you so long to get here? And where's Noire?"

"I heard gunshots coming from this direction so I went to check it out. I thought you were fighting monsters, not another human."

"Trust me, he's barely human."

Uni gazed at the blonde ranger and noticed the red mist that enveloped around his wounds as he stood up, his hood had been thrown back to reveal his messy blonde hair and, when he turned around, his blood red eyes and snarling expression. The Candidate was shocked as she saw the red mist revolve around their opponent before disappearing back into his body. "Um, why is this guy just like you?" the CPU Candidate asked Mars as she readied her rifle for another shot.

"He isn't like me, trust me on that at least," Mars retorted as he put away his pistols and grabbed one of his axes.

The ranger ran back towards them, his red blade held before him as he charged straight towards Uni. The Candidate fired round after round at her opponent while Mars surged forward and swung his axe at the blonde ranger, their opponent blocked the attack with his sword as his left fist became engulfed with red energy, he then slammed it into Mars' chest and sent him to the ground before continuing to run towards Uni. The Candidate of Lastation barely had any time to dodge the attack, she swerved around the swinging blade only to get punched in the face, sending her onto her knees before a booted foot collided with her gut. After Uni stopped rolling on the ground and smacked into the ruined stone wall of the ancient building the ranger raised his blade and brought it down, hoping to slay the CPU Candidate before Mars could get to him.

However, as the ranger's blade struck downwards he sword collided with another blade, as he glared at the newcomer his eyes widened and his expression soured. Standing near him was none other than Noire, CPU of Lastation, she held her sword tightly and snarled at the blonde man. "If you ever touch my sister again I will make you regret the day you were born!" Noire threatened him, her anger beginning to overtake her actions.

The ranger snarled and drew back, only to end up dodging strike after strike from both Mars and Noire, both swinging their axe and sword. While Mars' strikes were filled with the intent to kill and do as much damage as possible Noire's blows were more elegant and precise, but together the two of them were able to put their enemy on a defensive footing, when Uni got back onto her feet the tables had really turned against the blonde ranger. Even so, he had a plan. The ranger grinned as he sidestepped one of Noire's strikes and attempted to elbow the CPU in the face, as the Lastation goddess ducked the attack the ranger brought his sword up through Mars' flesh in an uppercut move before kicking his bleeding opponent to the ground. He then swiped his leg underneath Noire, causing her to jump up and backwards, it was just what the ranger was hoping for. As energised bullets flew past him he caught Norie off guard and pummelled his left fist into her gut, sending her skidding across the ground and into a tree back first.

"Tch, screw you," Noire muttered as she held a hand over her gut while she attempted to get up. However, her opponent stood before her with his shiny red sword held in the air above her, with a wicked grin the blood eyed ranger brought his blade down at the vulnerable CPU, hoping to slay her.

The ranger's hopes were dashed however, Uni fired a round at him and scored a hit on his right hand, the ranger backed off as he dropped his sword, holding his right hand as pain crept over his face. But before he could act any further the blonde man felt something pierce through his chest, he looked down and saw a bloodied hand through the left side of his chest, the hand was holding his heart and pieces of shattered bone. The hand swiftly crushed the man's heart, sending blood everywhere as well as red crystal shards which fell to the ground, the ranger spat out blood as he gargled for air, his blood red eyes reverted back to their orange colour and rolled to the back of his head as life seeped away from him. Noire, who was no splattered in blood from the now deceased ranger, stared up in horror as she saw Mars remove his left arm out of the man's body, sending the limb corpse onto the ground in a bloodied mess.

"You alright down there?" Mars asked as he shook his left arm around to get the blood off, his breathing was all over the place.

Norie nodded, but in truth she was shocked by what she had just witnessed. The Lastation CPU had never seen anything so bloody, so terrifying in all her life, and she was even more shocked about how Mars showed no emotions towards what he had done. Instead the young man collapsed onto the ground and caught his breath. "Y-You alright, Mars?" Norie asked as she wiped the blood off her, unsure whether speaking to him was a good idea.

"I've… been better, then again I have definitely been worse," Mars responded, his breathing ragged and heavy. "Damn it, outta breath, probably due to the bad sleeping patterns lately. I knew I should have found those sleeping pills... "

"Huh? Bad sleeping patterns? Sleeping pills?" Uni asked as she walked over to the young man and her older sister. "What are you talking about?"

Mars glanced away, his expression sour. "Nothing, it's nothing at all. Don't worry about it, Uni."

The Candidate and her sister stared sternly at the young man, but knew better than to aggravate him, the blonde ranger was just a prime example of what would happen if they angered him to the brink of violence. Doing her best to ignore the corpse, Uni held out her hand towards Mars. "Come on, we better get back and notify Histoire, I don't think it's a coincidence that this guy used a similar power to you," Uni said as she held her right hand near Mars' face.

The young man looked up at Uni and sighed before grabbing hold of her hand with his right, what happened next shook both the CPUs and Mars. As the young man and the CPU Candidate locked hands together Uni felt a strange tingling envelope through her arm, then she felt weak everywhere throughout her body, she let go of Mars' hand and fell to the ground and onto her knees in a dazed state. She muttered unintelligible words words, she felt not only weak but also out of place and separated from her powers: she had become powerless. Noire, watching in horror, stood up and brandished her sword at Mars, the tip of her blade pointed directly towards his throat as a vengeful expression grew on her face.

"What have you done?! What's wrong with Uni?! Tell me!" Noire demanded, keeping herself back from thrusting her sword into the young man's throat. The Lastation CPU had never fully trusted Mars and now she believed she had the excuse to get rid off him once and for all.

Mars, on the other hand, had no clue as to what he had just done, in fact he was just as surprised as the others were. "I don't know, Noire, I honestly don't know," Mars attempted to explain to the rage filled CPU. "I'd tell you if I knew, but I just don't."

"Bullshit. Tell me what you did!"

"Noire… stop… Mars is telling the truth," Uni weakly said to her older sister.

"And how would you know that?!" Noire questioned as he threw her glance back at her younger sister.

"Because he looks shocked, I… I never seen an expression like that on his face before."

Noire glanced back at Mars and looked at his expression again, from what she could see her younger sister was correct. Mars looked more than just bewildered, he appeared to be utterly shocked at what his power had just done to Uni. _Just what is he?_ Noire asked herself as she lowered her sword but continued to glare at the young man. As all of this happened an oversized raven was perched nearby on a tree branch, watching everything unfold, its eyes fixed on Mars.

* * *

 **A/N: Finally achieved in getting this over and done with, took longer than I thought - Writer's block can be such a pain at the worst of times. So, was this chapter interesting at all? At any rate it seems like Mars' power is beginning to be revealed, if anyone has seen the animation then you would all know by now, if not then things will be explained in the next chapter. If you readers want a chapter or two dedicated to poor old Enyo and her childhood friend - and now madman - Ares let me know, or perhaps even some chapters involving just Uni and Mars as well, or maybe even the Director and whatever he has. As always, if you have any suggestions please do inform me and may the gaming gods and goddesses watch over you.  
**


	12. A New Mission

**Chapter 11: A New Mission**

In a dark corner of a rocky formation sat a person, bent over with his legs crossed on the ground and his arms laid before him, bits and pieces of broken machinery were all over the blanket that was laid in front of him on the grassy ground. The person - who was a young man wearing a dark blue coat that covered most of his body with a hood over his head - picked up a metal bar and began to screw it onto a small robot, at least that was what it looked like to him, others would have called it a piece of junk. As he screwed the piece of metal onto the roundish, metallic robot he began to whistle in a low tone, filling the afternoon sky with the sound of peaceful yet high pitched noises.

"Hehehehe," the young man chuckled as he stopped whistling and added a few rods to the robot. "This'll be good, can't wait to try this baby out."

"Try what out?" a womanly voice called out from behind him in the nearby trees. "Don't tell me you're slacking off again, if you are I might just have to report this to the Director."

The young man glanced around to see his blonde, green eyed companion emerge from out of the dense woodlands, she appeared to be mildly exhausted as she made her way into the clearing that housed their campsite, and this did not escape the notice of the young man who stared sternly at her. She had been away for a while, leaving the young man to his own devices for hours ever since the early morning. From that time onward he had been working on repairing and upgrading a small robot he had 'borrowed' from the staff in Project Ares, he had managed to salvage what he could from it and start from the ground up, 'borrowing' spare parts from the nearby city to aid in his attempt to get it working once more, though only he knew what purpose the small robot was to fulfill but from what the young man had been babbling about the previous day the blonde woman had an idea about its purpose.

"Slacking off? Heh, can't you see I am working on a project over here?" the young man retorted as he motioned his hands towards the small, oval shaped robot. "This will help us with finding that damn red stone that the old man sent us out to find."

"Is that so? You know I don't trust machines, don't you?" When the young man nodded the woman shook her head and sighed. "If you know that then why create a robot just to aid us? I can see the merit behind it but still, I don't like it."

"Ah don't worry 'bout it, it'll be all fine, trust me. Anyway, where were you for the last several hours, Enyo? I've been looking for you ever since eight this morning, I'd thought you had fallen asleep or something out in the forest. If anyone has been slacking off today it has been you," the dark blue coated man questioned his companion, narrowing his eyes at her in suspicion.

Enyo remained silent, glancing away and scratching the back of her head as she kept her eyesight away from the glaring expression that she received from her companion, Ares. "W-Well, I was sleeping out by the forest boundary to the north, sorry if I made you worry," Enyo lied, hoping that Ares would buy it and decide not to question her further.

Ares continued to glare at the young woman, suspicious that she was not telling him the truth. After a minute he sighed and shrugged his shoulders as he grabbed a small sheet of metal, he did not seem to care much about what she had been up to hand consequently gave it no further thought. "Well whatever, you were probably on your peri-gah!"

Enyo smacked Ares over the head forcefully, sending him straight to the ground headfirst, his face collided with the grassy ground with a loud thud and the scrap sheet of metal in his hands was sent into the dirt, most of it sticking up out of the grass next to the blanket. A blood curdling snarl emitted from the fallen body as Ares began to rise up, lifting himself off the ground and onto his feet, facing Enyo. " _That. Was. Unnecessary._ " Ares growled viciously, his eyes glowing blood red.

Enyo backed off slightly before regaining her composure. "Sorry, but you had it coming. That topic is private, and will always remain private. Pervert."

Ares appeared to calm down as his glowing, blood red eyes reverted back to their normal blue state. "Ah whatever, I don't really care at the moment. Just don't mess up my little project, alright?" When Enyo nodded Ares sighed with relief and sat back down on the ground, retrieving the sheet of metal. "Alright then, that's good. Hey, by the way, would you like to-"

"If you're asking me out on a date then the answer is no," Ento cut off Ares quickly, waving her right hand around as she dismissed what he was about to say.

"Actually I was just going to ask if you wanted to help me finish off this robot, I could use an extra pair of hands," the young man explained as he held up a screwdriver.

Enyo appeared surprised at first, wondering if Ares was playing a joke. Eventually the shapeshifting woman sighed and a small smile appeared on her face as she took hold of the screw driver, she then sat down next to Ares and was handed a small scrap of metal with a few screws to fix onto the small robot. To the young man's own surprise Enyo, despite her dislike towards machines, began to screw on pieces of metal onto various parts of the small, oval shaped robot. The young woman glanced over at Ares and raised an eyebrow at him, confused as to why he was staring at her with a confused expression.

"Hmm? What's wrong, Ares?" Enyo asked, wondering what was going on through his mind at that moment.

"Well, it's just that you are actually helping with finishing off this small project," Ares replied, his attention fully focused on her. "I thought you hated machines of all kinds and all that."

The blonde woman glanced away and gripped the screwdriver tightly, when she spoke her words sounded distant. "I don't hate all machines, just robots that can think independently and can act according to their own wishes, or to whatever their makers wish. I just can't trust machines like that, I never have and I never will."

Ares continued to look at Enyo for a moment before sighing. "I know that it isn't my place to ask this, but why do you openly dislike intelligent machines? Is it because of some ideology or perhaps something more personal?"

Enyo began to fidget and continued to avoid eye contact with the young man, she appeared tense and filled with regret, sadness and grief as Ares' questioned was processed through her mind. For the dark blue coated young man this was enough of a response for him to realise the answer. He sighed and patted her back in an attempt to comfort her. "You'll be fine, Enyo. Trust me," he said to her, his tone was calming for the young woman.

Enyo looked at Ares and a faint smile grew across her face. "Since when did you become caring towards me? All you ever do is look after yourself."

"If you truly believe that then you know less about me than you let on about. I'm not just a bloodthirsty maniac or whatever those bastards back at HQ say about me, I am actually caring enough to ask what someone's problems are and try to help them. After all, aren't we childhood friends? Isn't that enough reason for me to help you out in certain ways?" Ares then smiled in a caring way at Enyo, making her blush and stammer, much to the young man's confusion. "Huh? What's wrong with you now?"

"Wh-What? N-Nothing! Nothing at all," Enyo replied back quickly with a stammering tone, she glanced away and continued to blush despite her best attempts to hide it. "I-I-I'm just feeling a bit worn out is all, no need to concern yourself about me."

Ares looked dubiously at Enyo for a short moment before shrugging his shoulders and returning his gaze back to his robot. "Well whatever, if you don't want to talk about anything that's up to you, I won't press you into a conversation you aren't comfortable with. Anyway, you still good to help me? I could still use your help with this project."

Enyo returned her gaze back towards Ares and nodded meekly. "Yeah, I can still help." The blonde, green eyed woman then began to continue screwing pieces of metal plates and rods onto the small robot, doing her best to ignore the occasional glances from Ares just to keep herself mentally in one piece. So _he does care, he truly does care about me. Ares does see me as a childhood friend, he does remember all of that after all. I'm happy… I'm really happy about that. Although that still doesn't explain why he keeps asking me out. Does he actually like me in that way? Or is he merely joking? I can't tell, but I wish I could, I really want to know. I'll ask him about it another time._ Enyo thought as she finished screwing a metal steel plate onto the robot, covering parts of the peculiar engine and circuitry within.

"There, that should be it. I think it's finished now," Ares said with a grin as he stood up, grabbing a remote control that was near him and began to fiddle with it. "Now let's see… ah yes, this should be the switch." Ares flicked a switch on the small rectangular remote controller and the robot flickered to life, several lights lit up and it began to float in the air. The robot was a small, oval shaped machine that was a mix of several dark colours, a couple of electrical rods sticking out of the back and the top, a few thin metal rods were stuck on the front and a few wires were sticking in all sorts of places.

Enyo stared at the strange looking machine, wondering what she had just helped create and hoping that it was not a bad idea. She looked over at Ares and questioned him about it. "Um, Ares, I know that I should have asked about this a lot earlier but just how is this robot supposed to help us uncover the red crystal that the Director needs?"

"Simple: this beauty should be able to unleash sonic blast waves that will shatter the rocks in that nearby cave where the stone is apparently located," Ares explained as he twiddled with the remote. "I have no idea if it will work though, guess there's no better time to test it out."

Enyo looked stunned that such technology even existed, although the young woman was also concerned where Ares had even managed to get such a thing from. "Um, Ares, where did you get all of this?" Enyo asked the young, crazed man.

"Where do you think? I 'borrowed' this from the old man. I took it from his personal stash, did some minor tinkering and there you have it," Ares explained as he kept his glance towards the remote in his hands, not caring how his friend was taking the news.

The blonde woman sighed and shook her head, facepalming with her right hand. "Ares, you never actually asked permission to take this robot for a test drive, didn't you?" When the young man shook his head Enyo became frustrated. "What the hell is wrong with you?! Why can't you just simply ask the Director instead of just stealing from him like a common thief?!"

"Because this is more fun," was Ares' reply, he grinned and began to walk southwest towards the location of the cave. "Come on, we've got a piece of red rock to find."

Just then Enyo's cellphone, which was strapped to her belt, started to vibrate and ring in a cheerful tone. "You go on ahead, Ares, I'll be there soon," Enyo informed the young man. As Ares nodded and walked out of sight alongside the robot the young woman quickly grabbed the electronic device and clicked a button before putting it against her right ear. "Hello?" she asked to whoever was on the other side.

"Greetings, Enyo, it has been a while since I last spoke to you," a dangerously calm voice replied from the other side, it belonged to a man who sounded like a smoothtalker.

The dark green eyed woman flinched and froze on the spot, she appeared afraid as soon as she heard to voice. "L-L-Laran! Uh, I-I mean… um, S-Sir Laran, to wh-what honour do I receive your call?" Enyo stammered, her tone filled with dread as she replied to the caller as formally as possible.

"Failing to be formal, eh? Have no fear, I am not in a bad mood this time, well, I kind of am actually for two reasons." His voice chilled Enyo and made her stiff. "Tell me, do you happen to know where the prototype for the sonic wave robot is? I found it missing earlier this afternoon when I went to continue working on it."

The shapeshifting woman bit her lower lip and tried to think of an answer to reply with, yet none came to mind. She could either tell the truth or a lie, the latter was the most obvious of choices but Laran was well known for telling what was a lie and what was the truth, making it a hard decision for her to choose. Eventually her silence was taken as a response by the mysterious man known as Laran, he then began to speak in the same calm tone. "No matter, I have already guessed the answer. I believe it was Ares who took it, am I right?"

"Y-Yes, I'm afraid so, sir. Please don't take it harshly against Ares, please don't," Enyo attempted to reason with Laran, hoping that he might be in a good mood and may prove lenient for once. However, much to her own fear, the caller was not in a lenient mood.

"No, I am afraid that your mad friend must be punished for this act. I have had enough of his thiefing antics." As soon as he had finished speaking Enyo thought she heard him growl in annoyance for a short moment before speaking again. "Anyway, the second reason I am calling is because of something completely different, something unheard of. It is about Belus, our most esteemed ranger who was sent on a mission to retrieve the lone surviving test subject from Project Mars."

Enyo gritted her teeth, awaiting what Laran had to say about it. The shapeshifter knew what happened, after all, she had watched the fight between Mars, Uni, Noire and Belus. "What about him?" Enyo asked, trying her best to make sure Laran did not pick up any hints that she knew about it.

"He is dead, killed by Subject 13 during his mission to retrieve him. Although I have a feeling that you already know about the news, am I correct in thinking that?" The ominous silence he received from the dark green eyed woman was enough of an answer for him "I thought so. And to think that you were such a role model for all the younger soldiers in training, hearing you slacking off and getting away from your mission is quite a disappointment, I just might inform the Director about this… might."

The blonde woman shivered and her teeth began to chatter, fear had fully and completely struck her dumb. Fortunately for her Laran was did seem to care much about the situation, instead the caller was more interested in what he had to say next. "It matters not in the end, nothing much will change. Besides, I have a new mission for you and that nuthead Ares to fulfill. My most esteemed spy has reported that Subject 13 of Project Mars has been sighted entering the eastern border of Planeptune, he is with the two Lastation CPUs and appears to be heading towards the country's capital. Your mission is to retrieve the infamous Subject 13, at all costs. Is that understood?"

"Y-Yes, I understand, Sir Laran. I will inform Ares of the news," Enyo said in response. The phone call was cut off and contact was lost, leaving Enyo with her own thoughts. The shapeshifting woman sighed and quickly ran after the dark blue coated Ares.

Enyo ran through the woods and towards the cave, rushing through bushes and over fallen logs as she quickened her pace. The news of Ares' impending punishment was bad enough for her but a new mission which involved capturing Subject 13 did not sit well in her mind. Enyo cared for Ares, possibly deeply as well, and always hated when her childhood friend was subjected to the horrors of torture, but she also found it ironic that the namesake of Project Ares would at times suffer in the same way as Subject 13 of Project Mars did. After running in a straight line, minus a few small turns around fallen trees and large logs, the shapeshifting woman found herself at the entrance of the cave where Ares was looking for the red crystal that the Director wanted.

The entrance of the cave was not large yet not small, it was a seven foot tall and eight foot wide hole with jagged edges, the hole led to a barely lit tunnel that was mostly lit by a black and grey lighting, the rocks themselves were of a light brown colour. Enyo breathed in and out heavily for a few moments to regain her breath before entering the cave. The blonde woman had a hard time attempting to see at first, but her eyesight soon adapted to the darkness around her and she was able to walk down the uneven and jagged tunnels without tripping. After making a left turn Enyo found herself in a barely lit tunnel that led to a mildly large space where a few torches were strapped to the rocks, standing in the centre was Ares and his 'borrowed' sonic robot. As soon as Enyo got close to the young man he turned around and acknowledged her with a nod.

"Afternoon, Enyo," Ares greeted the shapeshifting woman. "Who was on the phone talking to you?"

"It was Laran." As soon as Enyo replied the young man shivered and shook his head violently, as if he was trying to shake away some bad memories. However, he began to growl in annoyance and fear as Enyo continued to explain the situation to him. "I'm afraid it gets worse. Laran was the one who happened to be working on that sonic wave robot that you 'borrowed', he knows that you took it and, well, I'm guessing you know what is going to happen next when he sees you."

"Yeah, I do. Fuck that asshole! If he wasn't so powerful, so strong, so up in the administration then I would have killed him a long time ago," Ares snarled viciously, letting out an almost inhuman growl. "But even if I did manage that then the old man would have torn me to shreds, I just can't understand why he allows that bastard to do his own thing all the time. Was there anything else?"

Enyo nodded. "Indeed there was. Laran tasked us with retrieving Subject 13 and bring him back to HQ, apparently Laran said that his most esteemed spy has reported to him that our target and the two Lastation CPUs have entered the eastern Planeptune border, the three are heading towards the main city for reasons unknown. I am afraid we cannot ignore this new mission, so we must get a move on with finding the red crystal."

Ares nodded and began to fiddle with the remote controller again for a moment before the robot began to respond, it flickered to life once more - why it had died was an unknown reason to the young woman - and moved towards the uneven and crumbling wall in front of them. "Alrighty then, time to get that damn piece of rock and get the hell outta this dump," the young man said as he sent the robot towards the area before them.

The sonic wave robot approached the uneven and crumbling wall, dust and small particles of rocks fell to the ground and scattered across the rocky floor. Ares flicked a switch on the controller and the small, oval shaped robot began to flicker about, the rods trickled with electricity and the sounds of electricity building up ran through their ears. Ares stared sternly at the robot, he seemed displeased about how the robot was performing. Soon enough the robot let forth a large and dangerous burst of electricity and sonic waves into the crumbling wall, resulting in it lighting up before exploding. Rocks of all sizes, boulders and dirt sprang forward into small pieces, crumbling to the ground, a piece of the ceiling fell to the ground and crushed the small robot. Overall it felt as if a small earthquake had been unleashed, Enyo glanced behind her just in case the exit caved in.

After a few minutes the 'mini earthquake' ended, leaving a large tunnel in front of them where the crumbling wall and ceiling had once been, dust floated around through the air and almost blinded the two for a short moment. Enyo coughed the dust out and walked through the now cleared tunnel towards a small open space where a red glow was emitting from, but when she turned around and looked at Ares she saw him kneeling on the ground with the remains of the sonic wave robot, he appeared to be sad. With a shake of her head and a sigh she left her childhood friend behind and emerged into the room. Enyo could feel immense power flowing through the room, a power that she knew well. Surrounding her were several red crystals, embedded into the faces of several rocks all around her, letting out a red glow that painted the area in a dreaded red. Enyo knelt down towards each of the red crystals, picking them up individually one by one and placed them in her satchel, which was hanging by her side.

As the shapeshifting woman emerged out of the now dead and black lit room she gazed at Ares, who was still on the ground in front of the destroyed robot, or what was left of it at least. "Are you alright, Ares?" she asked him, already guessing the answer.

He shook his head. "No, I am not alright. The robot is destroyed, it is barely even salvageable at this point."

"I guess it doesn't matter, you're still going to get punished either way by Laran anyway. Regardless, I have the red crystals, and yes, I say crystals because there was more than one in there. We should get back to camp and inform HQ that we have what the Director wants before we go after Subject 13."

Ares' expression lit up from a depressed look to a malevolent grin. "Heh, now we're talking. Just point the way and I'll take care of everything."

As Ares began to chuckle in a maddening tone, and as Enyo sighed and pondered what was going to happen when they meet Subject 13 once more, both failed to notice a pair of dark purple eyes watching them from the shadows. The dark purple eyes blinked and in an instant were replaced by a pair of dragon-like eyes, the eyes were of a dark purple colour with black veins and black pupils, the pupils were thin and serpent-like. An almost quiet dragon-like growl emitted from the mysterious figure as they began to fall back into the shadows and disappear towards the cave's entrance. The eyes belonged to a human figure who approached at the cave entrance, disappearing into the afternoon light.

* * *

 **A/N: Finally got this chapter out, took a while to think this one through. I took into consideration the idea of trying to spread out the plot, taking things a bit more slowly so I don't rush it too much – although I don't think I'll be able to avoid that for the next chapter or two, but we will see, oh yes we will see. And yes, there appears to be a new character or two coming into the story, although if they actually make an official debut may or may not happen at any time soon. But we will see what happens – not even I know at this point! I'm trying not to come up with too many OCs for this fanfic, after all, it is supposed to be about Mars.**

 **Anyway, if any of you readers have any suggestion please inform me, I take just about anything onboard, and may you never suffer from a bad grade – unlike me.**


	13. The Land of Purple Progress

**Chapter 12: The Land of Purple Progress**

It was a quiet and less than cheerful mood that festered between Mars, Black Sister and Black Heart as they made their way towards Planeptune, passing the eastern border between the countries of Planeptune and Lastation. Grassy plains littered the landscape below the group as they flew through the sky, in the distance towards the southwest there were the shapes of a mountain range and a large, dense, green forest surrounding it to its eastern direction. A large and long river that led from the centre of Gamindustri down to the sea flowed directly below the group; the water in the river came from the snowy mountain peaks of the Snowy Mountains, the tallest mountain range in all of Gamindustri, and it was located directly in the centre of the continent.

Mars was being carried Black Sister as they and Black Heart flew through the bright afternoon sky, however, the senior CPU of Lastation was far from happy about the notion of her younger sister carrying the young man, let along being even in direct contact with him. After the incident earlier in the morning the group had returned to Lastation City where Noire had a video call with Histoire, explaining the whole situation to the tome fairy of Planeptune. Uni was recovering properly in her room while Mars was detained in his room, waiting for Noire's verdict, he hoped that it would not be harsh since the young man had no idea how his power - when active around his body - could even disrupt the flow of energy and life of a CPU. When he was told by Kei that Histoire thought it was time to finally meet him face to face Mars decided to go along with the idea.

The young man glanced over to his right and saw Black Heart staring sternly ahead of her, but when she turned her head around to face him all that Mars could see was abject distrust and possibly even a hint of hatred. Mars looked away and glared at whatever was in front of him, his anger beginning to grow, a slight growl escaped his mouth. Black Sister, who still trusted Mars to an extent, looked down at the young man she was carrying. "You alright there? I thought I heard you growl just before," she asked him, wondering if her ears were playing tricks on her.

"Hmm? Nah, I'm fine. At least, I would be completely fine if Noire wasn't a complete bitch towards me," Mars replied venomously.

Black Sister sighed in response. "Don't be harsh with Noire, she's just looking out for me is all, plus you are a handful you know."

"I get that, but does she have to be a complete ass towards me? I don't deal well with people who think highly of themselves and shatter other people's minds, arrogance is something I hate, and if your sister keeps this kind of anger filled attitude towards me then things may not end well between us." Mars then let out a depressing sigh and continued to glare at everything before him, ignoring the fact that Black Heart could hear their conversation.

"I can hear you," Black Heart informed Mars, her tone indicating how displeased she was with Mars.

"And I don't care, you stuck up bitch."

The haughty CPU of Lastation growled and swiftly flew ahead in a quickened pace in order to get further away from Mars, she did not take kindly to being called a 'stuck up bitch'. As Black Heart got further ahead the young man heard the Lastation Candidate sigh in a less than amused tone. "Mars, why did you have to go and say that?" she asked him, narrowing her eyes at the young man. "You shouldn't speak to Noire like that, whether I am around or not."

"I cannot help it, Uni, your sister has been a complete pain and thorn in my side ever since the incident, especially when we got back to the Basilicom. She's damn too protective towards you, hell, she wouldn't even let me go near you until you made her relent that decision."

Unknown to Mars, due to his lack of vision behind him, Black Sister's expression became depressed, as if she was uncertain about some things or believed in something that was making her feel saddened. "You think that, but I doubt that's the case at all. Like that would ever happen."

"Huh? What do you mean by that?" Mars asked, wondering why the Lastation Candidate was sounding more depressed than usual.

"N-Nothing, just ignore my banter."

The young man would have attempted to press more information out of the CPU Candidate, but he decided not to go ahead with that idea, instead he opted to remain silent for the rest of the journey to Planeptune. As they moved forward through the cool sky he thought that his decision not to press the conversation any further was a good idea, it seemed that Black Sister was not in a mood to talk due to whatever the young man had said just a bit earlier, either that or she was getting angry at him for arguing with Black Heart and calling the senior CPU a bitch. Under normal circumstances he would usually just let the whole matter go and forget about it, but it was different this time. This time Mars did not feel like letting the matter with Noire dry up and be forgotten, he now felt an absolute hatred for the patron CPU of Lastation, at least he thought that.

Soon enough the capital of Planeptune came into sight, from a it looked rather wondrous with all of its bright and colourful buildings, streets and its overall setting. It had not been the first time Mars visited Planeptune, in fact over the last two years the young man had constantly stopped off at the capital of the most laidback country in all of Gamindustri, mainly for cheap supplies and because the weather happened to be more to his liking, although the young man would always return to Lastation at some point. The closer they got to the city the more skyscrapers, convenience stores, apartments and houses could be seen. The city was alive and bustling with people as they roamed down the many streets, cars, buses and motorbikes drove down roads and the restaurants were filled to the brim with people as they ate away, enjoying their afternoon tea. Overall things seemed peaceful enough.

As the group passed over the city and headed towards the Planeptune Basilicom Mars could feel the confused and intense stares from the people below, the young man glanced downward and saw several Planeptunian citizens looking up at him with wonder, it was obvious that they were not used to seeing other CPUs carrying humans around from place to place. Mars did not seem to care, instead opting to look back at the large and tall building that was known as the Planeptune Basilicom. It was tall, incredibly tall, even for a Basilicom. A light purple, white and creamy large building with many levels and rooms, several small balconies were placed around the building with one big balcony higher up in front of a big glass door; that was where the group seemed to be heading for. Down below on the ground around the base of the Basilicom there appeared to be a garden of sorts.

As Mars, Black Sister and Black Heart flew up to the large balcony they all saw Neptune run out alongside Nepgear onto the white balcony, their bright and happy gazes directed towards the group as they neared. As they landed and reverted back to their human forms - Uni and Noire respectively - the Planeptune sisters approached them, although Neptune decided to jump at Noire, catching her in a tight hug that sent both crashing down onto the bright, white stone. However, as Neptune tackled Noire the raven haired tsundere let out a girlish cry as she landed on her back with the purple goddess beside her, giggling away like a hyperactive little kid.

 _Whoa, that noise from Noire was actually kinda cute. I like it._ Mars thought, his eyes widening with surprise, he also failed to notice his cheeks were burning up in a blush. Uni looked over at the young man and narrowed her eyes at him, not liking how he stared at her older sister.

"Wh-Wh-What the hell, Neptune?! Wh-Why did you just tackle me out of nowhere?!" Noire exclaimed in a frustrated tone.

"Cause it's fun to see you go all tsun, my dear Nowa," Neptune replied, laughing as she got onto her knees, tears almost forming in the corners of her eyes as she wrapped her arms around her stomach, pain starting to grow due to the laughter.

"My name is not 'Nowa', I keep telling you that for crying out loud! Why don't you ever remember that?!" Noire growled as she got back onto her feet, dusting off any particles from her dress.

"Yeah, yeah, I know that, don't worry about it all." Neptune stood up and grinned brightly at the Lastation CPU. "Now then, come on inside. We've got a whole lot of hours of gameplay to get started on!"

As the group entered the Basilicom proper Nepgear chuckled nervously. "Um, Neptune, I don't think that is what Uni, Noire and Mars are here for. Wouldn't it be better for them to see Histoire first with whatever they have to see her for before they stay for a while playing games?"

Noire nodded, agreeing with Nepgear. "That is completely correct, Nepgear, we are here to see Histoire and not to play games. So, Neptune, is Histoire in her office? I want to get this over and done with as quickly as possible, and I need her to advice me about some matters."

"Hmph. As in 'advice on some matters' you mean whether Histoire thinks it's a good idea to kick me out of your Basilicom," Mars muttered, glaring at the patron CPU of Lastation.

Before Noire could respond with some sort of angry reply Uni butted in and knocked Mars on the head with one of her tightly clenched fists, giving the young man a vicious look that made him shut up. Neptune, who was walking just ahead and happened to watch Mars and Uni, chuckled and stared at them with a cheeky look. "Hehehehe, I guess I now know who owns the man pants in your relationship," Neptune chuckled, giving Uni a wink.

Mars and Uni looked at Neptune, confused at first before they both caught her meaning. The young man sighed and facepalmed while Uni blushed madly, waving her hands around while stammering in an attempt to reason with the purple goddess. Noire, meanwhile, was almost fuming. "What the hell are you implying, Neptune?!" Noire exclaimed, her arms crossed in front of her as she berated the sniggering goddess before her. "Like hell I would let Uni be in a relationship this is guy!"

"E-E-Exactly! I-I-I would n-never be in a relationship with Mars! That would be completely stupid!" Uni agreed with Noire adamantly.

"How nice, getting what's left of my confidence and throwing it into the trash," Mars said in a depressed tone, almost saying it sarcastically. Despite Mars saying it sarcastically his words pierced Uni and made the Candidate feel a little guilty for apparently crushing the last vestiges of Mars' self confidence, she glanced away and sighed depressingly.

Nepgear, who noticed how Uni was feeling, patted her back to make her feel a little more better. However, Noire did not seem to care about whether her younger sister was feeling guilty about apparently trashing the self confidence of Mars, instead the senior CPU seemed to revel in Mars' words, believing that she was now on top again. Noire chuckled and grinned at the young man. "Well then, at least you now know how we all feel about you," Noire gleefully said. "Know your place, Mars."

Mars, however, glanced at Noire with a wicked look in his eyes, his voice filled with a sarcastic tone. "Is that so? And here I thought you were being all nice to me, you big ol' tsun."

The raven haired CPU glared at Mars, almost fuming with anger as she gripped her fists, baring her clenched teeth at the young man. Uni could not help but slightly chuckle as quiet as she could, finding the teasing and cheeky attitude of Mars to be amusing. Nepgear chuckled and scratched her head while her older sister, Neptune, merely laughed, unable to control herself as she fell to the floor, pointing and laughing at the raven haired goddess. "Hahahahaha! You just got wrecked! Hahahahaha!" Neptune laughed uncontrollably, almost crying.

Noire, meanwhile, was clearly not amused with either Mars or Neptune, most specifically the young man. "Dammit, Mars! Why do you always have to annoy me for no apparent reason?!"

"Because it's fun, oh, and you deserve it sometimes," Mars replied with a serious tone, clearly not amused with Noire along with her past actions and words.

The raven haired tsundere turned away and sat down on the light purple couch that was situated nearby in front of a large TV screen with a Planeptunian console on the ground, four controllers laid side by side and a bin was in the corner with many empty pudding cups deposited inside. Noire sat down on the couch, crossed her arms and pouted with a glaring look across her face, her day had only gone bad to worse in her opinion. The Lastation CPU would occasionally glance at Mars and glare at him, it was plainly obvious to him that she completely and utterly did not trust him after the incident earlier that day concerning his red energy and Uni.

As Noire sulked to herself on the couch Neptune managed to get back onto her feet and looked over at Mars, a faint smile was on her face as she stared at the young man. "Whoa, you must have pissed Noire off immensely if you managed to get her like this. Whatcha do?" Neptune asked, nearing the brown haired man with bright, wide eyes and a curious smile.

Mars, unwilling to talk about the situation that occurred, rubbed the back of his head nervously and glanced away towards Uni, looking to see if she was paying attention to their conversation. The Lastation Candidate was indeed paying close attention to Mars' and Neptune's conversation, she looked at the young man and glanced away, thus not giving him a clear indication on whether or not to answer truthfully to Neptune's question. In the end Mars gave an answer. "Well, it doesn't really matter right now, Neptune, but I would rather talk to Histoire first it it is all the same to you," the blue eyed man replied, not giving the answer to the purple goddess.

Neptune seemed to be unhappy that the young man did not give her a good answer, but she cast it all aside with a carefree shrug. "Meh, whatever. Doesn't matter to me right now. So, how 'bout a few rounds of gaming to calm everyone down? We only have four controllers so one of us will have to sit out," Neptune said, relaxing her muscles and backing off slightly. She then looked over at Noire and smirked at her, the troll face activating. "Guess that means you're out, Noire."

"Why me?! Why not Mars or yourself?!" Noire retorted, her anger and dejectedness merely rising.

Before either Neptune or Mars could respond to the angry, raven haired goddess the group was interrupted by a lone figure who floated into the living room, her voice was full of wisdom yet her tone at that moment was one filled with annoyance. "Just what is going on out here?! Neptune! Explain yourself!"

The voice belonged to a small figure atop an open tome, the book itself was of a dark blue colour with gold lining and the words written on the pages could not be read by anyone save the young looking woman in question herself. The woman had blonde and blue eye girl, she was wearing a wide white hat with a purple N in the centre, light blue and purple pieces were attached to the sides, two blue and white tips on a set of wings were attached to her back; whether she was actually able to fly was another matter altogether. She was also wearing a purple dress with gold and blue lining, white stockings, white shoes with a black and blue circle on them and white cuffs on the sleeves, what looked like a light blue tie was hanging down from her neck. As soon as she saw Noire, Uni and Mars the young looking woman appeared to calm down and regain her posture.

"Oh my, I apologise for my sudden outburst just now," the blonde woman apologised, bowing her head downwards. When the woman locked eyes with Mars she seemed to be confused. "My apologies for not knowing who you are, but what is your name?"

"Mars. My name is Mars," the young man responded. "I take it you are this Histoire that I have heard about?"

Histoire nodded. "Yes, that is correct. I must say, you do not look like how Noire described you, partially at least. You look more… sadder than I thought, as if you have been through some life changing events that have left a large impact on your state of mind. Something sad happened, and now your expression is a mix of sadness, anger and grief. Am I right?"

Mars felt uncomfortable about what Histoire had just said, the fact that the tome fairy had just figured out a large aspect of the young man's life was unsettling for him, and the looks he received from everyone else in the room was uncomfortable. Eventually Mars sighed and rubbed his temples before replying. "I'd rather talk about that another time, if it's all the same to you," Mars replied, his tone was full of mixed feelings.

"Well I would rather like to hear it," Noire said with an interested tone of voice. "Well, explain yourself already, Mars."

The young man looked over at Noire and glared at her. "My personal life is my own business, not yours, so stay out of it!" The young, brown haired man then returned his attention towards Histoire. "I understand that you want to talk about all of this to me today, but I do not feel like talking about it. If we must discuss about it then can it be another time? Today… isn't the best day for it, especially with what happened."

Histoire sighed and seemed to understand what Mars was talking about. "I understand, I had heard from Noire and Kei about what happened. While I would personally like to talk about it I can understand if you feel uncomfortable about discussing it right now, from what I heard it sounds as if even you do not know what caused such a thing to happen. If it makes you feel better we can talk about it tomorrow, a fresh mind will put a better perspective on the matter."

Neptune, who did not fully understand what Mars or Historie were talking about, was nonetheless delighted that Mars, Uni and Noire would be staying the night. She jumped in the air and pummeled her right fist upwards in a victory pose. "Yahoo! Finally, we can play games all night long! Let's-a-go!" The purple goddess grabbed Mars by the left wrist and dragged him over to the couch where Noire was, forcing him to sit down in the centre she then sat down to his left with the raven haired tsundere far to his right, grabbing two controllers beforehand. "Now then, let's play some games! Come on over, Nep Jr and mini Noire. Sorry, Noire but it looks like you're being left out this time"

As Noire pouted furiously to herself Mars felt as if had little room to argue, or to complain. As Uni and Nepgear walked over to the couch the voice of Histoire filled the room. "Not for you, Neptune. There are still many reports to fill out if you have forgotten, a whole lot of paperwork is waiting to be signed and I am not doing all of it. As a CPU it is your duty to rule your nation as a benevolent ruler, not a carefree gamer who couldn't give a toss about governing. Now come with me."

Neptune grumbled and pouted as she gripped her controller tightly, glancing at Histoire the purple goddess made her distaste for work clearly known. "Ah come on, Histy. Can't you just let me off this time? We have guests you know. Plus, I really don't like paperwork and all."

This did not go down well with the tome fairy. Histoire approached the group and stared sternly at Neptune, her expression turning into one full of anger. " _You. Will. Sign. Paperwork. Now!_ " Histoire then grabbed Neptune by the wrist and dragged her off to the tome's office, the CPU of Planeptune protested the whole way without stop. She looked over at the group and pleaded for them to help her, but that was not forthcoming. Mars and Noire showed little interest in helping Neptune, Uni seemed exhausted just from Neptune's actions while Nepgear smiled nervously and waved goodbye. That was the last they saw of Neptune and Histoire that day.

Despite what had just happened things went on normally enough for the group as the afternoon died away. The sounds of fingers tapping against buttons on controllers, the stamping of feet and the occasional raised voices were all that could be heard throughout the entire Basilicom. Mars, Uni, Nepgear and Noire were all playing a first-person shooter game similar to the one Mars and Vert fought on. The game randomised the teams, to Mars' and Noire's disappointment they were placed into the same team while Uni and Nepgear were on the opposite team, after the two teams were placed onto a map filled with the ruins of a city the match started. Uni and Nepgear, who were used to working together due to their many years as friends, had the advantage when it came to teamwork and were prepared to thrash the opposite team.

Mars and Noire, due to the complications between them, were not prepared to work together, no sense of teamwork emitted from the two of them nor could it seem possible. Noire refused to cooperate with the young man while Mars himself preferred to go it out alone, hoping that he could score a few kills before ultimately losing - he had come to the conclusion that defeat was inevitable due to the lack of teamwork. As the sun lowered in the western horizon the roof lights activated, lighting up the living room and the nearby kitchen. Meanwhile, a deadly duel between two snipers was ongoing as the match continued. Mars and Uni had encountered each other once more on the field of battle and now they were battling it out via long range rifles, both barely hitting their targets.

"Come on, come on," Mars muttered as he aimed down the scope from a ruined window, his target - Uni - was just on the other side in another building; the sounds of gunshots rang through the air as Noire and Nepgear met out in the open, firing their chosen weapons at each other. It was the only time that Uni and Nepgear had split off from each other during the entire game, and neither Mars or Noire were going to let it slide.

As Mars and Uni fought it out from long range the situation was very different for the other two combatants, Noire and Nepgear. The two CPUs, one patron and one Candidate, battled it out in the open for dominance of the battlefield, using their surroundings as cover while trying to get another kill. The raven haired goddess of Lastation was hiding her character behind a large, broken stone wall, she was holding an SMG and a grenade on standby, she was waiting for the right moment to attack Nepgear and score a kill point. Then the moment came. Noire launched out from behind her cover and ran into the open, which was a street with numerous small craters and collapsing buildings, at the other end was Nepgear who had also come out of hiding. The two locked eyes through their characters and began the attack, guns blazing and grenades blowing up.

"Time to win!" Noire exclaimed boastfully, firing her SMG at the running Nepgear, she managed to get a few hits and blood splatted onto the ground as Nepgear's character got behind cover. To the tsundere's shock her purple haired opponent had thrown a grenade at her, landing it just beside Noire. The Lastation CPU had little time to get her character out of the area before the grenade exploded, almost killing Noire's character while also sending dust everywhere, covering the screen.

"Sorry, Noire, but a game's a game," Nepgear apologised as she ran over and aimed her rifle at her opponent while she was dazed and confused. Bue the final shot never occurred, at least for her. A gunshot coming from one of the buildings rang through the speakers as Nepgear's character fell face first to the ground dead.

Noire looked up at the building where the bullet came from and saw Mars' character looking out towards her, sniper rifle in hand. Then another gunshot rang through the air and Mars fell from the building, a bullet through his head. The same quickly happened for Noire, ending the match and effectively the game. Mars' and Noire's team had lost with an affirmed thirty deaths and sixteen kills, Uni's and Nepgear's team had sixteen deaths and thirty kills. It was clear who had won and who had lost. Mars sighed in annoyance and threw his controller down beside him, the young man walked over to the kitchen and began to scrounge through the fridge without permission, not that he really needed it in the first place.

"Well, congratulations and all that crap," Mars said without a care. He was kneeling down on the ground as he rummaged through the Nep sister's fridge. "Now then, is there any damn Nepsi in here?"

Uni sighed and shook her head, a small smile had formed on her face. Nepgear chuckled and stood up, walking over to the young man she began to dig through the numerous puddings and Nep Bull in the fridge to find a large, unopened bottle of Nepsi. "I found one, Mars," Nepgear informed the young, blue eyed man as she emerged out of the fridge with the prize in her right hand.

"Thanks," was all Mars said as he gently took the fizzy drink and walked back to the couch, sitting down next to Uni on his left and where Nepgear sat on his right, he opened the plastic bottle and began to chug down the soft drink at an alarming rate. Nepgear soon returned with a bowl of chips which she placed down on the small coffee table in front of them before sitting back down.

As Noire and Mars leaned forward to grab some chips the young man saw the raven haired CPU whisper something to him. "Thank you for saving me during the last match," Noire whispered to him as quietly as she could. Mars nodded in response, the corners of his lips tried to form a smile but failed, although Noire understood what he was trying to do. Noire smiled as she leaned back with a handful of chips, the hatred that bubbled between her and Mars was slowly becoming void and empty.

* * *

Night had finally fallen over all of Gamindustri and the city of Planeptune was asleep, cars had stopped moving and people were fully asleep, it was quiet and peaceful in the city of pudding. Inside the Basilicom things were also quiet, for everyone was fast asleep, at least that was what it seemed like. Strolling through one of the darkly lit corridors of the Basilicom was the CPU Candidate of Lastation, Uni. The raven haired, red eyed CPU was walking down the corridor back towards the guest room that housed her for the night, a bottle of water was held in her left hand. She was wearing a black nightgown with several layers, black socks and a sleepy look was on her face, her hair was still tied up in two tails.

"Wish I brought a torch with me," Uni mumbled to herself as she turned a corner. "It's almost too dark to see, wasn't like this before, I think so. Maybe I'm just a little too sleepy and my sight is fading because of that. Huh? What's this?"

As Uni passed one of the guest room she noticed that one of the room lights was one, as the Candidate neared it she could hear the mumbling of some muffled words. It sounded like Mars. The raven haired Candidate pressed an ear against the door and attempted to listen to whatever the young man was rambling about. All she could hear was: "Sleep, I need sleep, yet I'm afraid of what would happen if I did."

 _What's Mars talking about? Is something wrong with him all of a sudden? Sleep… could it have something to do with the lack of sleep he mentioned earlier today? That would explain the quick remark about sleeping pills as well._ Uni thought, pressing herself against the door in order to hear more of what he was saying. Eventually the Candidate heard the young man grumble loudly in annoyance. Uni grimaced and opened Mars' door, revealing the young man sitting on a bed with a leather bound book and pen. "Sorry, Mars, but I saw your light on and wondered what was wrong," Uni said to MArs, poking her head through the doorway.

Mars swiftly looked up at Uni and quickly closed the book he was writing in, a surprised expression adorned his face. The young man was wearing a shirt and light shorts that Histoire had bought for him. "Oh, er, h-hi, Uni. I wasn't expecting you out this late. Why were you out there?"

"Like I said, I was just passing by when I noticed your light was on, and I heard you mumbling to yourself. What's wrong?"

As Uni fully entered the room and slightly closed the door behind her Mars had hidden his book and pen somewhere, he then turned his full attention over to the Lastation Candidate. "I'm fine, Uni, really."

"If that was the case then why were you mumbling about getting some sleep?" Uni carefully sat down on Mars' bed, her feet hanging off the side while her arms were to her side, her hands were up against the bedsheets beneath her. "Just tell me what's wrong, n-not that I care or anything."

The young man looked dubiously at Uni before sighing in defeat. "Well, I suppose I can tell you this. I am having trouble getting to sleep, in fact I haven't slept for almost four days. It's getting troublesome, although sometimes I just don't want to sleep."

"Bad dreams?" Uni asked. The slight nod from Mars was enough of a reply for the Candidate. "Thought so. Do these bad dreams have something to do with this mysterious past of yours?"

Mars glanced away, his fingers tightening around his shorts. "I'd rather not talk about that, please. And before you ask, no, I do not want to talk to you about my past."

"Will you at some point?" Uni stared at Mars as she asked him, her fingers twiddling and a concerned expression on her face. When Mars shrugged the Candidate knew that was the only answer she would get out of him for a while. "Well anyway, I better leave you to it. Try to think of good and happy thoughts while attempting to go to sleep. Goodnight, Mars."

As Uni stood up and was about to leave the room Mars managed to chuckle, glancing over to her as she looked back at him. "Heh, I had no idea you were so caring towards me. You ol' mini tsun." The young man found the look he received from the Candidate made him smile on the inside.

"Th-Th-The h-hell, Mars?! D-D-Don't just say things like that out of the blue!" Uni quickly left Mars' room and closed the door behind her, but as she leaned up against the door she sighed and a small smile formed on her face. The Candidate began to walk away when she noticed Mars' room light turn off and the sounds of the bed slightly squeaking, indicating that the young man was now in bed. As Uni reached her room the smile on her face did not disappear, instead as she re-entered her bed the Lastation Candidate was secretly hoping that Mars would be alright. _Goodnight, Mars. I hope you sleep well._

* * *

 **A/N: Took me a while to complete this chapter, I had other matters to deal with at first before I managed to get back to this. I'm still taking things slowly with the plot as well as the growing relationship between characters, especially Mars and Uni. Although, it seems that things between Mars and Noire appear to be brightening up, slightly at least. I do not know when the next chapter will be out, but once I get the next chapter completed for my main fanfic I will be sure to get the next one for this done as soon as I can. Anyway, if you have any suggestions them do please inform me and have a good day if you can.  
**


	14. Red Energy

**Chapter 13: Red Energy**

Mars awoke from a stressful and painful slumber with his arms and legs around a creamy coloured pillow, his face was up against the upper part of the pillow and a small drool stain was visible for all to see. When the young man stirred out of his sleep he noticed the position he was in and quickly moved away from the pillow as fast as he could without cracking his bones due to stiffness. "Well, that was… odd," Mars said to himself awkwardly as he laid on his back, his head was ringing with pain and his muscles were stiff. "Gah, my head… damn that nightmare. I'm better off not sleeping if I'm going to have nightmares from now on."

The young, blue eyed man sighed depressingly as he remembered what he dreamt about during the night, just the memory of it made him shiver. It was something that Mars did not want to remember at all, even it did made him into what he was. _This power, this existence… it pains me. Funny, I never had to think about this ever since Project Mars was destroyed._ Mars thought to himself, his arms sprawled out across the bed. _It's been a long time since I ever thought about my life like this, if I could even call this a life. Being turned into a god of sorts was not what I wanted, but I don't even know what I wanted to be when I was young, come to think of it I don't remember anything about me. All that I can remember is that damn facility and the damned Project. This life, the mental and physical scars, the pain… damn, the pain… is it even worth living with this? How have I survived this long? And now I find out that Maximillian is still alive and creating more people like me, everything is going to hell - heh, like it wasn't already._

As if on queue the deep and long scars across Mars' chest, gut, back and upper arms began to emit pain, a lot of pain. The young man gritted his teeth and rubbed the scars, hoping that the pain would go away. But it did not, instead it seemed to intensify, the young man snarled in pain as he leaned up on the bed. Mars looked over at the small desk of draws to his left and began to search through them to see if there was any sort of medication in them, although his hopes were absolutely low. True enough his lost hope instincts were correct as there were no medications of any sort in the draws, not even the ones to his right had anything of use, although Mars did find a spare pencil for no apparent reason. _I suppose you can find anything in draws, I guess. Still, I'm surprised that there wasn't any puddings tucked away in here._

As Mars gritted in pain, rubbing his sore scars once again there came a knock on the door, and a voice he recognised was heard on the other side. "You awake yet, Mars?" the voice asked. It belonged to Uni. "Hey, respond already! I don't want to walk in and then find you getting dressed you know."

Mars shook his head in an attempt to clear his thoughts while doing his best to ignore the pain that was aching throughout the scars on his body. "Y-Yeah, I'm up, I'm awake."

"Really? If that's the case why do you sound so groggy?" It sounded to Mars' ears that Uni did not believe him, and she would be right in thinking that. "Are you lying to me again?"

"No, no I'm not. Just hang on, Uni, I'll be out in a minute or two," Mars informed the Lastation Candidate as he got out of bed with some difficulty. As he stood up and stretched his back out the young man looked out the nearby window after throwing the curtains back to see the sun creeping over the blue sky, white clouds were flowing by aimlessly and a small flock of birds swiftly passed on by. "What time is it? From what I can see it still looks pretty early."

"That's because it is early. Noire doesn't want to be here long and sent me to see if you were up and ready for your meeting with Histoire. If you're ready to see Histoire you can find her in the main office, that's where she usually is all day. There's also some breakfast getting cooked up as well if you're interested in eating first before the meeting."

"Yeah, thanks, I'll have some breakfast first. Who else is up by the way?"

"Nepgear, Noire and Histoire, Neptune is still sleeping and that will probably continue until lunch. You ready to come out yet?"

Mars shook his head, then he remembered that Uni could not see him behind the door. "Not yet, just give me a few minutes to get in some decent clothes, unless you want to see me without any clothing on that is In that case I can comply."

That set the Lastation Candidate off. "Wh-Wh-What?! D-Don't you dare come out of your room if you aren't wearing anything! I don't want to have nightmares every night from now on you know! Pervert!"

"Heh, you just thought of me naked, didn't you?" Mars asked with a cheeky tone. Then there was silence, which was soon replaced by the sounds of footsteps which the young man heard leave the door and stroll down the corridor; Uni had left Mars' door and was heading down to the kitchen, her face red and her rage building. Mars, however, was oblivious to this, instead he shrugged his shoulders and decided to get changed into his casual clothes.

After getting his normal day-to-day clothes on, the young man left his room and ventured down the hallway towards the kitchen, the smell of freshly cooked food entered his nostrils and caused him to sniff the scent gladly. The young man walked through the lounge room and entered the kitchen, there he saw Nepgear standing by the kitchen stove with a pair of tongs in her hands and a frying pan in the other, the scent of crispy bacon was in the air. Uni was sitting on a chair by the table, eating her breakfast alongside Noire, both seemed to be eating fried eggs and bacon with mushrooms on the side. A steaming coffee was next to Uni's plate.

 _Huh, that's kinda odd. I thought a normal Planeptunian breakfast would be something that contained a lot more sugar, both natural and factory-made._ Mars thought as he strolled over to Nepgear, ignoring the glare that he received from the Lastation Candidate. Mars knew why she was being angry with him, but he honestly could not care less, he had other issues to deal with - one of which concerned the pain around his scars that refused to go away. The brown haired man grimaced painfully as he approached Nepgear, the pain in his deep scars ached more and more as he stopped next to the Planeptunian Candidate. "H-Hey there, Nepgear. Any left for me?"

The lilac haired Candidate glanced over at Mars and noticed how his expression was a pained one, she could not help but pity him for whatever reason he was in pain for; aside from the pain that was all over his face Nepgear could also see what looked like sadness, as if Mars had remembered some old memory that pained him. At any rate the CPU Candidate of Planeptune was highly concerned for Mars' health. "Um, Mars, are you feeling alright? You look like you're in pain." Nepgear asked him.

"Huh? Oh, no, I'm fine, really," Mars lied poorly, almost giving up trying to even keep it a secret from the others. "Just some bad sleep is all, nothing to worry about, Nepgear." He then attempted to chuckle in order to relieve her worries, but that completely and utterly failed, in fact it just made her - and even Uni - more worried than before. _Well, it's not as if I was completely lying, I did have a problem with sleeping after all._

"Are you sure? You say you're fine, but you look like you've been through hell and back. Did you have a bad dream of something?" Nepgear did not believe the young man, they way he looked gave away what he was feeling.

Mars glared at Nepgear viciously, his eyes flashed blood red for a few seconds, frightening the CPU Candidate of Planeptune. Eventually, after a few seconds, the young, brown haired man sighed depressingly and slouched forward, a tired expression replaced his angry look. "Anyway, need any help? I've had experience in making myself cooked food for two years, so I can help if you need it."

"No, I'm fine, thanks for offering to help though. I'll call you over when I finish your breakfast. Just wait over by the table and I'll bring the food over for you." She then smiled brightly at the young man, it was as if she had already forgiven him for getting angry at her.

Mars nodded and walked over to the table, he sat down on a brown and creamy wooden chair with lilac coloured lining; the young man was sitting in front of Uni, her plate was devoid of food yet her coffee was still steaming. She looked at Mars and the young man swore that he could see an angry look in her expression, the short outburst of cheeky teasing when the young man woke was still running through her mind. Mars sighed and glanced away, waiting for Nepgear to finish cooking his breakfast. _Guess I can't blame Uni for feeling that way, I did tease her a bit too much at the end, most specifically that joke about her thinking of me naked. At least I know that she wouldn't think of me naked… would she? Nah, she wouldn't, she's not a pervert, at least I think so anyway. I wonder what she's going to use as revenge to get even with me? All I can see from her is just an angry look._

When Uni and Mars locked eyes together the two quickly glanced away, when the young man looked back towards the CPU Candidate he thought he saw her pouting. Eventually the raven haired Candidate sighed and handed Mars her coffee, when the young man picked it up he noticed that she had not drunk out of the purple mug. When Mars looked back at Uni he noticed that she had a devious grin on her face. "Here, I made this coffee for you," Uni informed him, she could not help but chuckle deviously "Drink it, I dare you."

Mars could not help but notice that Uni said that last part almost quietly so only her and he could hear it, it did make him slightly concerned for himself. The young, blue eyed man raised the mug of suspicious coffee up to his nose and took a big whiff of the scent, as soon as he lowered it the young man finally realised what was wrong it it: instead of sugar it had salt instead. Mars glanced at Uni to see that the devious grin had not yet disappeared; he knew that coffee with salt in it would taste terrible, and if Uni had made the coffee in the first place then Mars also knew that the tsundere Candidate had some sort of plan to get him in trouble as well.

Indeed he was right, for Uni had a plan to get back at him for embarrassing her: it involved the salted coffee she made specially for him, Mars refusing it and Noire going into an angry outburst that would, hopefully, make him feel completely guilty and force him to drink it. Uni chuckled to herself, believing that her plan was flawless and that Mars would suffer from intense guilt. _Hmph. That'll show him for embarrassing me like that. Thinking of him naked… that's… that would be completely horrendous! Like hell I would do something like that! That's just… perverted and disgusting!_ As Uni thought these things she began to think about a certain someone, then her cheeks blushed bright red out of embarrassment. _No! No no no! Don't think about it! Gah! Damn it, it's going to be bothering me all day now!_

The young man stared at the coffee, ignoring the devious glare from Uni and the questioning look from Noire while Nepgear placed a plate full of freshly cooked food in front of him, he knew what would happen if he did not drink the coffee. In the end, Mars sighed, took several breaths and began to drink the spiced coffee. Uni stared in amazement as Mars drank the salted coffee relentlessly without pause, never stopping to breathe. Eventually the young man placed the now empty mug onto the table and gasped for breath, the Lastation Candidate noticed the disgusted look on his face as he trembled. Mars then stuck up a thumb and did his best to smile, but his attempted smile looked more like a daemonic expression. "Th-Th-Thanks for the c-coffee, tasted p-pretty good," Mars informed Uni, stammering his words due to the side effect of drinking salted coffee.

Uni glanced away and tightened her fists, she pouted to herself that her plan had backfired directly at her. Now she was feeling guilty about Mars drinking the spiced coffee and saying it was delicious. _Idiot. Now he's making me feel guilty instead, that isn't supposed to happen! Dammit, stupid Mars. Guess I have to make it up to him later._

The senior goddess of Lastation, meanwhile, was not sure what was going on inside Mars' and Uni's heads, and she did not really want to know either. At any rate Noire had no intention of staying in Planeptune for too long, she knew what would happen if Neptune decided to get up early or if they were delayed until the afternoon, then they would be forced to stay for another night. It happened before after all. The raven haired tsundere coughed to catch Mars' attention, and it worked. "Mars, I need you to hurry up and eat your breakfast as quickly as possible, then you must go and have you little meeting with Histoire. I have no intention of staying the day here," Noire informed the young man as he ate his breakfast, a bored and disinterested look on his face.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever you say," Mars grumbled as he munched on his freshly cook, warm food - which consisted of eggs, bacon, mushrooms and tomatoes; strangely, yet perhaps not much of a surprise, Mars also noticed a couple of puddings as well on the kitchen bench, ready to be served. Regardless, the young man could not care if Noire wanted to leave early or not, essentially Mars was in control, and he liked it. He had half a mind to keep Noire and Uni occupied until Neptune woke up, or at least till the day wore on and night appeared, just so he could relish in their anger. But for the moment he seemed content in just ignoring Noire, and just about everyone else, as best as possible.

The patron CPU of Lastation was not too happy about it, yet there was little she could do without resorting to violence, and she desperately wanted to land a few punches against Mars, yet if she did then Uni would probably complain. And then there was the fact that Noire, even though she felt like giving Mars a good punch, realised that despite all that she felt conflicted about it as well, their time during the game session from the previous night seemed to mend something between them, at least it was starting to anyway. Because of that Noire wanted yet also did not want to land a few hits on the young man to put her mind, and anger, at ease. The Lastation goddess sighed and leaned back into her chair, deciding not to bite at Mars' words.

It did not take long for Mars to eat his breakfast, in fact he was rather quick, far quicker than the group realised. One minute the plate was full, the next half of it was already down in his stomach. It only took a further few minutes for the rest of the breakfast to be devoured by the young man, leaving no crumbs behind for the birds to pick off. Mars pushed the chair back and stood up, sighing with relief as he stretched his back out and patted his stomach, then the young man belched loudly. "Phew, that was good. You're a great cook, Nepgear. I could learn a thing or two from you," Mars praised the CPU Candidate of Planeptune. What surprised all three CPUs was that the young man was being honest.

"I-It's nothing much, really," Nepgear responded, slightly embarrassed that she was being praised, especially by Mars of all people.

The young man then shrugged his shoulders, his bored and somewhat estranged expression returned to his face. "Well, whatever you say. Anyway, I gotta go and see what Histoire wants with me. See you guys later." Mars waved a sloppy goodbye to the three CPUs as he exited the area and entered the hallway, making his way to Histoire's office and leaving the goddesses to their own devices. He also ignored the questioning looks he received from Noire and Uni while Nepgear was slightly blushing.

Finding the tome fairy's office was no problem to the young man, he had been told where it was located the night before by Uni. As Mars strolled down the hallway at a steady pace he passed by two guard in purple and lilac coloured uniforms, both gave a confused look towards Mars as they walked past him. The young man did not seem to care about it as he continued on his way. Eventually, after a short while of looking around on the different levels of the massive building, Mars found himself outside the office of Histoire, Oracle of Planeptune. The sunlight was peeking through the bottom of the door in front of him and the sounds of soft mumbling was being uttered from the other side, indicating that someone, most likely Histoire, was working away with goddess knows what. Mars grabbed hold of the door handle and opened the door, revealing an already worn out Histoire signing paperwork, she appeared to have had hardly any sleep and had instead worked most of the night after lecturing Neptune for goodness knows how long.

"Hey, Histoire, you need me right now?" Mars asked, wondering if he should really be bothering the Oracle of Planeptune during one of her work sessions. As he kept to door open, his body standing in the doorway, he felt the pain throughout his upper body subside, at least for now.

The blonde fairy looked up from her desk and sighed, relieved that there was something to distract her from all the work that Neptune managed to ditch the previous day. "It's alright, Mars. Actually, I am glad that you turned up, it will give me something new to do for a while."

"Is that so? Having issues with Neptune not doing what a CPU usually does?" The nod from Histoire answered Mars' question. "Thought so. Come to think of it, what does this CPU work entail? From what I had to do in Lastation it mostly just involved pieces of paper concerning business transactions; factories that made weapons, armour, cars, toys and all manner of stuff; minor issues that involved really petty stuff and… well, I guess that sums it up. So, what does Planeptune have to deal with?"

Histoire beckoned for the young man to follow her out of the paper-filled office and out into the hallway, as they walked onwards the tome fairy decided to answer Mars' question. "Well, it is kind of the same here, in fact I say all of the nations of Gamindustri have to deal with the same problems concerning what is signed by the CPUs and their Oracles. Didn't Chika explain her and Vert's workload to you when you were in Leanbox?"

Mars shook his head. "No, I was mostly held up in Vert's room, I had to go over how to be a butler by being forced to play all her BL games and read tutorial magazines as well as her manga. Damn, I had no idea she was a closet otaku, especially one that loves butlers and boy-on-boy stuff. Creepy." The young man shuddered in fright from remembering the experience before continuing. "I basically had no contact with that overprotective Oracle of hers, and a good thing too I must say; she never liked me, I could tell from the glare I got from her when I first arrived while being almost suffocated in that giant bosom of Vert's. Some guys would kill to be in my place at that moment."

Histoire chuckled, amused at how embarrassed Mars was. "Everything turned out alright in the end, right? Anyway, just to let you know about what's coming up: I want to run a few tests on you to see what sort of abilities and powers you have. Don't worry about it, everything will be fine, I assure you."

The young man hated the word 'tests', he had suffered enough because of tests. His muscles tensed and his teeth grinded against one another, his eyes glared at whatever was directly in front of him, his anger rose while his eyes turned blood red. He was remembering all that had happened to him, all that had been forced upon him for an uncountable long period of time. It made Mars mad. The tome fairy looked up at the young man and noticed the strained expression he had across his face, she sighed and stared directly at him.

"Mars, have you been subjected to some sort of horrible torture at some point in your life?" Histoire asked him in a concerned tone. The gnarling look that she got out of Mars indicated that she was correct. "I thought so. Can you please describe what actually happened? It would help me in figuring out a couple of things."

Mars grunted in disatisfaction, he was clearly unhappy and did not want to talk about his experience. "I rather not talk about it with you, I hope you can understand. Promise you never tell anyone about this, got it?" The nod from Histoire relieved him, making his eyes and mood return to normal. "Sorry about before, I just hate recalling my past, or what I can remember of it. I haven't told anyone about it, not even Uni, so I appreciate it if you never tell anyone about what you have already guessed."

Histoire flashed the young man a small smile in an attempt to keep him calm. "Have no fear, Mars, I will keep this secret between the two of us and no one else, I promise you. By the way, what is your relationship with Uni? The two of you seem close so I was just wondering."

Mars glanced away and scratched his chin, thinking of a suitable reply. The problem that the young man found himself in was that he did not actually know how to answer; he knew that Uni was something different, as if she was of some importance to him yet not completely. In the end, after several minutes of thinking, Mars came up with a response. "She's a friend, a good friend," he replied. "Uni has helped me out ever since we first met, which is kind of a surprise now that I understand her personality. She's always looked out for me and helped me whenever I needed it, even though I never asked for help. I can't believe I'm actually saying this, but I feel grateful towards Uni, especially after all she has done for me. I don't deserve it."

Histoire raised an eyebrow, wondering why Mars would say that he did not deserve such kindness from Uni, but the tome fairy decided that it was best not to ask the young man why. Instead she decided to change the topic back towards what Mars would be going through, but the thought of what Uni had to say about the mysterious young man was always on her mind. "Anyway, going back to what you will be put through. They are tests, well, sort of anyway. You will be subjected to some medical and fitness tests to ascertain how you are handling yourself, what your health is like, what measures we need to take and all that. It is nothing to worry about, I promise it will not hurt. Oh, and we need a blood sample so I can identify what type of power you actually have, if it is okay with you though."

The young man shrugged, he was now beyond caring and decided to play along, although he did not like the idea of giving up a small sample of blood, but if it helped in finding out what his power was then he was willing to do it. "Alright then, let's get this over with."

* * *

Histoire sat by her desk, reading over the notes that the examiners had coupled together after they looked over Mars, and from what the tome fairy was reading there was more to the young man's problems than she had realised. The blonde fairy sighed depressingly as she began to re-read the piece of paper that she held with both hands:

 _Examiners' Report_

 _Subject's Name:_ _Mars_

 _Gender:_ _Male_

 _Age:_ _Unknown, suspected to be between eighteen to twenty-two_

 _Eye Colour:_ _Blue, turns blood red when power activates_

 _Hair Colour:_ _Brown, short and messy_

 _Interesting Features:_ _Deep, long scars all across his upper body and upper arms, possibly made by whips, knives and fire; these may have been inflicted over a long period of time - at least ten to five years in total. Has a cold and unnerving personality, this may be due to the product of mental abuse; also seems to be emotionless at times. Trusts no one and bluntly stated it during every test he partook in, only person he seems to trust is Lady Black Sister for unknown reasons. Mars also has a strange marking on his upper left arm just below the shoulder, from what we could gather it seems to be in the shape of a dragon that was roaring towards the sky; at first we assumed it was a tattoo but on further investigation it may actually be a birth mark of sorts._

 _Physical Exam:_ _Displays immense strength when his mysterious power activates, when this happens he is able to perform almost superhuman abilities in pure strength, yet he seems to hide this. Mars is also really agile and is able to run surprisingly fast, surpassing almost all fast runners. Despite all of these attributes Mars does not look the part of a strong person. His strength is most likely due to his power, and also probably because of something else that lays dormant within him. Only advice is for Mars to keep an eye out for whatever makes him powerful._

 _Medical Exam:_ _Unlike his physical exam, Mars showed less stability in his medical exam. After many written tests, severe questioning and death threats directed towards my colleagues and their families, it is safe to say that Mars has an unstable mind. In a way, Mars is slightly mad in a bloodcrazed way. Trauma from years of possible torture (as far as we can ascertain however, it is hard to prove it though as it seems too odd) has left him both physically and mentally unstable, he is prone to irrational thoughts and behaviour that make him unpredictable. Another note of interest, and concern, is that his heartbeat is completely irregular; instead of sounding like a normal heartbeat it sounds as if Mars' heart is slowly giving up, either that or it is supposed to be abnormal, but aside from that he appears to be fine. To our understanding it also appears that Mars has sleeping problems. It is advised that Mars should come visit on regular checkups for mental therapy and the usual health tests._

 _Comments:_ _As stated above, it is recommended for Mars to return for regular checkups on his health, both physical and mental. A blood sample was taken and immediate investigation of it found that there were strange red particles flowing in the blood, the sample has been taken away for further tests that, hopefully, will be under your supervision, Lady Histoire. Whether under your supervision or not proper results should arrive in a day or two._

 _Signed by: Akane Kimura, Chief Scientist of Planeptune's Basilicom Staff_

Once again, Histoire sighed and laid the piece of paper back onto the desk, she then looked up in front of her to see Mars sitting before her with his arms crossed, a expressionless look was on his face. "Does it say anything good about me?" Mars asked, wondering if he did well.

The tome fairy handed the report over to the young man and watched as he glared viciously at the piece of paper in his hands, then he began to scrunch the paper before slamming it down on the desk. Histoire scratched her head and, once again, sighed. "I guess it was not to your pleasing?" She asked him.

"Of course not! Mad in a bloodcrazed way, mentally unstable, pah! Yeah right, like they would know anything about me! No one can properly understand me!" Mars then sighed and leaned back in his chair, no longer caring about it any more, at least he thought so anyway.

The blonde, living history of Planeptune and all of Gamindustri knew she needed to distract the young, brown haired man from the negative emotions he was currently thinking, and she knew what to do. "Hey, Mars, would you like to go and have a look around Planeptune City?" the tome asked Mars. That got his attention. "When you were having your examinations I was having a chat with both Nepgear and Uni, they think it is a good idea if they took you around the city as your tour guides. I said that would talk to you about it once you got back."

"Hold on, what's the time?"

"It's around two in the afternoon, possibly two-thirty in the afternoon. Why do you ask?"

"I was just wondering if Uni and Noire were still here, I can possibly understand if Uni was still here, but not Noire. Are both of them still here though?"

Histoire nodded. "Indeed they are. Neptune awoke at some point during your examinations and I was forced to explain everything to her, now she and Noire - who, last I checked, was still voicing her opinion on leaving early - have now entered a competitive match on one of Neptune's many games. Uni and Nepgear should still be somewhere in the Basilicom, if you want to take up on their offer."

Mars nodded, liking the idea. "Yeah, sounds like a good idea to me, it;ll give mean excuse to get away and out of here for a while. No offence of course, I just need some fresh air every now and then." As he stood up Histoire noticed how calm the young man appeared to be, which was a nice change in her opinion. Before Mars left the office he stopped and looked around to face the Planeptunian Oracle again. "By the way, that scientist who wrote the report, who is she?"

Histoire looked quizzically at Mars, she appeared slightly confused at his question. "What do you mean? She's Akane Kimura, she was in charge of all your examinations." When Mars shook his head and shrugged his shoulder it made the tome fairy even more confused. "That's strange, she should have been there with you. It's odd, but I don't think it is something to worry about it, she is strange after all."

"Hmm? How so?" Mars had grown interested in the elusive Chief Scientist of the Planeptune Basilicom Staff, not that he would admit it.

"Well, Akane is rather reclusive and spends most of her free time by herself, or wherever she goes off to. Sometimes she leaves and doesn't come back for weeks, even months, then she turns up again like nothing happened. I had asked Akane where she had been, but all that she could say was something about looking for someone." Histoire stopped talking and noticed the suspicious look on Mars' face. "But I would not worry about it if I were you, instead you should be more concerned about what Uni and Nepgear have in store for you."

Mars gulped and waved a goodbye to Histoire as he left her office, the sounds of the young man's footsteps echoed down the hallway as he made his way back to the living room, where he would undoubtedly find the patron CPUs of Lastation and Planeptune battling it out on a game console. Histoire, meanwhile, looked over at the large pile of paperwork that had yet to be touched, she sighed depressingly and began to get to work, silently hoping that she could get Neptune to do some more work later on in the day.

* * *

In another part of the Planeptune Basilicom a woman sat in a large, comfy chair that swirled around in circles, before her was a desk with several monitors all over the place and a computer tucked away in a hollowed out area just below the draws and small piles of paper littered the desk. A picture frame of a young blue haired girl with dark purple eyes alongside with two adults - a man and a woman - was up against the top shelf of the desk, the man had dark blue hair and blue eyes while the woman had black hair and dark purple eyes, the man was wearing dark red robes with several layers and long, drooping sleeves, the woman was wearing a matching set of dark green robes; the man also appeared to be wearing an emerald circlet with a shining emerald stone in the centre.

The woman had fair skin, blue hair that flowed down her back while her purple eyes were behind a pair of reading glasses; she wore a white lab coat, her dark purple collared shirt seemed to be a bit too tight around her mildly large breasts, her bright blue jeans also appeared to be slightly tight, especially around her rump, overall she had an hourglass figure and physical looks that would make many men fall head-over-heels for her. However, not only was the blue haired scientist good looking she also happened to be quite intelligent. The blue haired woman sighed and rested her chin on the desk, fatigue was starting to get to her.

"Fuuu… so much work," the woman grumbled to herself. The name tag on her lab coat came loose and fell to the ground, the woman sighed and picked it up and readjusted it back onto her coat, the tag read: Akane Kimura. "Damn, guess I'll have to replace the pin for another one. Great, more time wasted."

As the blue haired woman mumbled to herself in an annoyed tone she looked over to her right and picked up a piece of paper, it also happened to be a copy of the report she had filed to Histoire. She suddenly took an interest in it once more and sat up straight as she read over the report. A small grin plastered on her face. _Mars. It is an interesting name, but not your real name. You think you are the only one around here who knows it, but you could be no further away from the truth. That idiot, Laran, would pay me well for giving him the information as to your whereabouts so that power-hungry Ares and that mentally scarred Enyo can retrieve you. But where would be the fun in that? Besides, you have your own problems to deal with, as do I._

Akane stopped reading once she came across the comment about the dragon mark on Mars' upper left arm, her suspicions fully aroused. Once the chief scientist had heard about it she had kept an eye on the young man during his examinations, all while she was in her own office naturally - incidentally, her office was also her room which she was renting from Histoire. Akane blinked and her dark purple, human, eyes were replaced with dragon-like eyes; they were of a dark purple colour with black veins and black pupils, the pupils were thin and serpent-like, until she seemed to relax slightly and the pupils widened. Her teeth appeared to be more sharp than before. _I wonder, is he the one I am looking for? Hard to say right now, but if he is then all these years of searching will not have been in vain, all I have to do is just watch for now. Things are starting to get interesting, especially since I already know what powers Mars._

The dragon-eyed woman looked up and grinned at the wall. "An Anti-Crystal. Lets just hope that Mars doesn't do anything stupid while he's around here, or those two imbeciles who have orders to capture him."

* * *

 **A/N: Sorry for the wait, but I was finishing off other matters prior to this, but now that's out of the way so I can focus more on this. Now, I'm sure most of you would have already guess what was the source of Mars' power, and I don't blame you, I did make it obvious with a few of the previous chapters, but now I have actually confirmed it. Yes, it is Anti-Crystals that power up our protagonist – well one Anti-Crystal anyway. Also, like the introduction of Akane? Just another OC who plays a role further down the track, no further spoils until then I'm afraid – yes, she is the same person from the ending of chapter 11 (or 12 if you count the prologue as an actual chapter). Anyway, the next chapter will take some time to complete, mainly because I only know a portion of it, the rest is hard to simulate right now. Until then, do your best to have a good day readers!**


	15. The Stronger God

**Chapter 14: The Stronger God**

"What the hell, Neptune?!" Noire pouted, her hands squeezing the controller to the point where her hands were red and sweaty. "You were cheating! You just had to be!"

Neptune chuckled mischievously and winked at the Lastation CPU, grinning as she did so. "What? Moi? You have the wrong girl I'm afraid, Nowa."

"Grrr, it's 'Noire', not 'Nowa'! Idiot." Noire sulked to herself and gritted her teeth, her form hold on the controller almost broke it due to how angry she was. This, however, escaped Neptune and instead the energetic goddess of Planeptune went on the offensive, again.

"Aww, is the tsundere being all pouty again? Just lighten up already, you big ol' pouting machine." Then she began to laugh, clutching her stomach whilst laughing in a loud voice that echoed through the room and down into the hallway.

The raven haired, red eyed CPU growled and looked back at the TV screen, reading the scoreboard that showed who won the match. Unfortunately for Noire she had lost several consecutive matches for the last hour, thus landing her at No. 2 while Neptune had landed in No. 1, meanwhile No. 3 and below were held by other online players from all across Gamindustri - none of them the CPUs actually knew or recognised though. Regardless, the tsundere CPU was in a bad mood after loosing again, and Neptune's laughter was not improving the matter. Noire growled and glared at Neptune. "Screw you, Neptune," Noire pouted. "Stop laughing already, or else I'm going to tie you up and leave you for dead."

"Tie me up, huh?" Neptune mumbled, scratching her chin thoughtfully. Suddenly the pudding obsessed goddess began to make weird noises and became lost in thought as she thought about Noire in a skimpy, black bikini tamer outfit with a long whip attached to a loose belt around her waist, a thick set of rope was in her hands. As Neptune chuckled with a lewd look Noire guessed – correctly – what was going on in her mind.

"N-Neptune! Stop thinking lewd and perverted things about me!" Noire yelled, her cheeks blushing brightly. "Don't take my words out of context! You lewd pervert!"

Neptune giggled uncontrollably and smiled brightly at the raven haired goddess. "Ah don't worry 'bout it, I was only doing it for the readers; we don't have any, or hardly have any, perverted scenes going on at the moment. We could use a few scenes like that every now and then you know." The purple goddess then stared at Noire with a cheeky grin. "You know, I think Uni would look pretty smoking in a skimpy, black bikini tamer uniform with a whip and some rope. Does Mars think of Uni like that?"

Noire was shocked at the mere thought and possibility of Mars thinking of Uni in that image, it just made her almost too shocked for words. _Would Mars think of Uni in that kind of image? No, no he wouldn't. Then again, he is a pervert, a closet pervert anyway, so it is a possibility… wait, no! Grrr, damn you, Neptune! Now I'm going to be worried about my little sister for the rest of the day!_ Finally, after much stammering, and imagining Mars thinking of seeing Uni in a very skimpy, black bikini that showed a bit too much skin with some rope and a whip, the Lastation CPU spoke in response to Neptune's question in a relaxed tone. "I don't know, Neptune. But if he does then I'm going to make him pay!"

As Neptune chuckled cheekily at Noire's response they both heard the sounds of footsteps coming from the hallway, it sounded as if someone was coming towards them at a steady pace. The two CPUs looked out towards the hallway to see Mars walking into the living room, his face appeared to be expressionless and his posture was terrible, it looked as if he had a hard time with his examinations. Neptune and Noire continued to watch Mars as he ignored them and made his way into the kitchen, he walked up to the fridge and opened it to reveal dozens upon dozens of puddings, Nep Bull and Nepsi, the young man pulled out a full bottle of Nepsi and closed the fridge door. As the young, brown haired man sighed with relief as he took a large swig out of the bottle he glanced around to see both Neptune and Noire staring at him, he was aware that both knew about his examinations and guess that they wanted to know.

"I take it you want to know about the results of my examinations?" Mars asked the two goddesses. Neptune nodded enthusiastically while Noire appeared to lose interest and glance away with her arms folded, the recent conversation with Neptune about Mars thinking lewd thoughts of Uni was still heavy on her mind. Mars did not know this, obviously, and cared little about what she was thinking as he explained the results - some parts of them anyway. "Well, I appear to be healthy and all right, though I might have to come back here every now and then for a few checkups, aside from that I'm fine."

Noire did not fully believe him, yet she decided it was for her own good not to question the young man, Histoire did say that the information on the report was confidential after all. The tsundere CPU decided to let it slide since Histoire asked them not to ask too many questions, especially questions that could be considered private. Neptune, on the other hand, did not really care what Histoire had to say about the matter and thus felt compelled to ask Mars questions that Noire deemed confidential. The Planeptunian goddess got up off the couch she and Noire were sitting on and made her way to Mars, who by now had drunk half of the Nepsi bottle.

"Ah come on, tell us everything that happened. Come on now, don't keep me hanging here," Neptune said to Mars. The perky goddess was up in Mars' face, her eyes were sparkling and her arms were waving around at her sides. "So, you gonna spill the juicy intel? I'm all ears you know, my dear, crazed young friend."

Mars glared at Neptune, clearly not amused with Neptune. "Crazed? Go to hell, you energetic, sugar-high, tiny woman of a goddess!" the young man snarled in a vicious and dangerous tone, the word 'crazed' almost sent him over the edge due to the report he received from Histoire. Neptune backed off with her hands up before her in a defensive way, her expression turned from cheerful to frightened. As Neptune tried to calm Mars down, and as Noire approached the two of them to diffuse the growing situation, the young man sighed depressingly. "Sorry about that, Neptune, but I don't want to talk about the examinations. If I were you I wouldn't go asking Histoire or the staff anything about it as well, it is confidential for a reason you know."

The purple goddess chuckled and smiled at Mars. "Meh, don't worry about it, I'm sorry about before and all." She then offered up a pudding to the young man as a sign of goodwill. "Here, have a pudding to cheer yourself up."

Mars took the pudding and recognised it as custard and caramel flavoured, it looked good at any rate. However, the young man did not actually like pudding, he did not hate it but it just made his stomach feel odd after consumption. Although, seeing Neptune's perky face and bright smile made the young man decide to take the pudding and eat it, despite his better nature telling him to refuse the gift. Mars took the pudding and attempted to give her a smile, but it ended up as a malevolent expression, so he gave up on it within seconds. "Thanks, Neptune. By the way, do you know where Nepgear and Uni are?"

Neptune looked quizzically at the young man, tilting her head sideways. "Huh? Nep Jr and Mini Noire? They went outside around ten minutes ago, I think they might be around the large garden outside the Basilicom. Whatcha gonna do when you find them?"

"Go around the city with them, apparently they had a chat with Histoire about showing me around Planeptune. Didn't they talk to you about it? If they didn't I would be surprised."

Noire shook her head. "No, those two talked to us about it, but I guess Neptune forgot about it." The tsundere then stared sternly at Mars, her hands were on her hips and she appeared to be rather serious. "Mars, when you are out there with Uni and Nepgear I expect you to be on your best behaviour. Do not do anything stupid, and don't be rude to anyone you meet. Is that understood?"

Mars glanced away and sighed as his hands slipped into the pockets of his jeans. "Yeah, yeah, you ol' tsundere mother."

"Wh-Wh-Wha?! I'm nothing like that! I'm the complete opposite!" Noire retorted, her cheeks red due to embarrassment. "An old tsundere mother. Yeah right. That doesn't sound like me at all! Right, Neptune?"

The energetic goddess thought about it for a moment before smiling brightly and shook her head, shocking Noire. "Nah, sorry about this and all that, but you are kinda like a tsundere mother. Bad and all. But look on the bright side: You'll never actually be a mother because you're so uptight and hard-headed."

"How the hell is that a bright side?! Wait, why am I even arguing about that?! Damn you both!" Noire growled, pouting to herself as she glanced away with anger in her eyes, her arms crossed underneath her breasts. She did not like being the target of jokes and harassment, but it was inevitable due to her personality, it was something she could not do anything about.

But Neptune had not yet finished. "Although, while you would make a pretty bad mother, I think Uni would have a good shot at it. Ah yes, I can just imagine her in the shoes of a mother. Hehehehehe… her child would be such a tsundere, and a pretty good looking one too, definitely takes after the father."

This finally set Noire off her rails. "What?! Uni as a m-m-m-mother?! Th-Th-That's just… what?! Hold on, the father… the father…" The tsundere, raven haired goddess then glared viciously at Neptune, who was enjoying the moment. "D-Damn you, Neptune! Now you're making me think about those two together! What the hell is wrong with you?! Why are you picking on me today of all times?! Why not Mars instead?!"

"Because he's gone, he left when you were pouting and looking towards the balcony," Neptune replied as she sat back down on the couch with various different puddings and a spoon. As the perky CPU sat down she glanced over at Noire and gave her a cheeky smile. "Not to mention that it's more fun to tease you. After all, you don't turn into a killing machine after getting pissed off."

Neptune was right. Noire looked around for any signs of the young man, but none could be found, it was as if he had never been in the room at all. The Lastation CPU grumbled to herself as she silently took an oath of silence and sat down on the couch as far away from Neptune as possible, her arms crossed and a leg crossed over the other, her expression was not a happy one. _Damn it, I'm always getting harassed by the others like this, even Blanc and Vert are getting the hang of it now. Ugh, now my head hurts. This has to be the worst day of the week so far!_

* * *

Mars managed to get out of the living room without a problem, the only person who noticed him leaving silently was Neptune, and the young man knew that the goddess of Planeptune was not going to tell Noire about it any time soon. The brown haired man had his hands in his pockets as he strolled down the hallway and entered the elevator, he pressed the button to descend to the ground level and leaned up against a nearby railing as the elevator went downwards. The young man glanced at the glass panelling and looked out at the city below, watching as the specks of people and all sorts of vehicles that moved around, flocks of birds passed on by at great speed. Everything seemed peaceful, although that was how Planeptune usually was.

Mars opened the pudding that Neptune had given him and began to eat it with a plastic spoon he took as he left the goddesses to their own devices, as he swallowed the sugary delight he immediately regretted it. The slice of pudding entered his stomach and began a chain reaction, resulting in a stomachache that was not entirely painful yet rather discomforting. The young man grumbled to himself and ate the rest of the pudding, not wanting to feel guilty about not eating something that a chirpy goddess gave him. As Mars walked out of the elevator and into the main hallway that led outside he rubbed his stomach and began to grumble to himself.

 _Well, at least there wasn't much of it, otherwise I would have been in a big problem._ Mars thought as he stepped outside, nodding a goodbye of sorts to the nearby security guard. _Funny, when did I ever start to feel guilt? I never felt it before, so why now? Does it have something to do with Uni? If that's the case then she's been a bad influence on me; I don't want to feel guilt, I just can't handle feeling different emotions, I just can't._

The young man had finally left the Basilicom, the view of the city around him was no longer as dazzling as he had once thought, in fact it looked rather dull to him. Although, despite visiting Planeptune occasionally for the last two years, Mars had never been so close to the centre of the city before, but that was because he had never intended to get close to the Basilicoms in case the goddesses took an interest in him and his power. Mars chuckled to himself as he thought of that. _Heh, well that obviously didn't work, considering where I am and what I do now. Anyway, where the hell are Uni and Nepgear? They gotta be around this damn garden somewhere._

Mars began to roam through the garden, passing by small trees, bushes and all kinds of flowers, yet he never stopped to admire it all. The young man did not care for the beauty of nature, it mattered little to him. As Mars walked down a stone tiled path in the garden he heard familiar voices coming from his left, he walked past some shrubbery and peered around a tree with dense leafs, there he saw a small pond with an open red, wooden shack that seemed to look like a patio with a bench. Sitting on the bench was none other than Uni and Nepgear, both were sitting side-by-side and sounded as if they were talking to each other about something. Mars would have gone out from hiding and walked up to them, but before he could do so the young man heard the two Candidates speak his name.

"Do you think Mars' results are going to be okay?" Nepgear asked her fellow CPU Candidate, who was staring at her own reflection.

"Who can say? I don't know, but I guess he might be all right," Uni replied, keeping her gaze directed towards the pond. Her hands gripped the red wooden bench tightly, the Lastation Candidate seemed to be waiting for him due to how she kept glancing around. "Sheesh, he's taking his sweet time getting here. I thought Histoire would have given Mars the news that we were going to show him around the city by now."

Nepgear threw a glance at Uni and began to chuckle, arousing the Lastation Candidate's suspicion. The questioning stare from Uni made Nepgear stop. "Oh, don't worry about it. I was just amused at how worried you are for Mars' wellbeing. It's actually kinda sweet."

Uni took a short moment to process Nepgear's words through her head, then afterwards she began to blush uncontrollably and wave her hands in front of her in some sort of attempt to persuade the Planeptune Candidate that what she said was not the truth. But, naturally, it did not work, instead it only proved what Nepgear had said. "N-N-N-No w-way! I-I-It's nothing like that at all! I-I just d-don't want to wait too long for him is all, I do have better things to do after all."

The Planeptunian Candidate chuckled to herself, amused at how bashful Uni could be at times when she tried to say the exact opposite of what she was thinking. Nepgear had gotten used to it, the amount of years she had spent with the Lastation Candidate had forced her in these types of situations. However, Nepgear had never thought that Uni would be concerned about the wellbeing of one man, from how she would describe herself it sounded as if she could not care for anyone, slightly at least. _Well, she is a tsundere, so that was to be expected I suppose. Still, it's interesting to see Uni like this, being worried about Mars and everything. I think they're pretty cute together: the tsundere, gun-loving Uni and the mysterious, grim yet kinda-caring Mars._ Nepgear smiled at the thought and let out an almost quiet giggle.

Uni looked over at Nepgear and narrowed her eyes at the Candidate. "Huh? What's up with you now?"

Nepgear chuckled and waved a hand to dismiss her friend's concerns. "Oh nothing, was just thinking about nothing of great importance. By the way, I've only just noticed this due to what Histoire said yesterday, but Mars does look rather sad and grim, doesn't he? Maybe Histoire was right and Mars has been through some pretty hard moments in his life. Do you know anything about that?"

The Lastation Candidate shook her head and glanced back at the pool for a moment. "No, afraid not. I mean, I've known that guy for awhile now but he's still kinda like a stranger; Mars never talks about himself so it is hard to piece together what he's been though. But, judging from what we have seen of him, I guess it's safe to say that Mars has been through hell and back; the scars on his upper body say it all."

"That would make sense, considering what he is able to accomplish." Then Nepgear asked Uni an unexpected question, a question that the Lastation CPU Candidate had never expected to hear. "What are your feelings towards Mars? Do you like him as a friend, or something else?"

That just about set Uni off into a tsundere state; she began to blush uncontrollably and twitch nervously. Mars, who was still watching, did not really care what Uni's answer would be, he knew that they were just friends, awkward friends at best. Yet the young man knew well enough that if Uni tried to dodge the question she would inevitably walk away furiously, and that would make the whole endeavor of showing Mars around the city completely pointless. Despite knowing just about all of Planeptune City and the surrounding area, the brown haired man could not help but feel a bit of guilt about it all. _Damn it, I'm feeling guilt again. I hate this emotion. I'd rather go back to feeling nothing instead of this._ Mars thought as he sighed and stepped out into the open, interrupting Uni's and Nepgear's conversation.

The Lastation Candidate quickly looked over to her left and saw Mars approaching them, she sighed with relief as the focus of attention was no longer on her, meaning she now no longer needed to give an answer to Nepgear's question. Regardless of what Uni thought, her focus had now swiftly shifted from being embarrassed to being annoyed at Mars for being late. "Where the hell were you?! You're late!" Uni scolded the young man as she got off the bench.

"Yeah, yeah, I know, I was just caught up with Histoire about my exam results," Mars replied. "Anyway, we good to go? I doubt either of you would want to be out and about all day."

The two CPU Candidates nodded, and together the three of them walked back down the track that led them into the garden and out onto the street. From there they began a trip that almost spanned the entire city; from the Basilicom to the Guild, from the various pudding stores to the mall, from the weapon stores to the clothing shops and more, including some big building site that was barred from everyone's view. None of this was new to Mars, due to him spending some time in Planeptune during the two years after the destruction of Project Mars, but the young man was not going to tell the Candidates that, it would have just ruined all of their plans. Instead, Mars was going to play along, not only that but he was feeling something he rarely felt: joy. Mars was not quite sure why he was feeling joy, but it was not doing much to him so he was going to let it slide.

As the group stopped outside the Planeptune Guild, pointing around and giving various notes of all sorts to Mars, Nepgear mentioned something. "Hmm, I wonder if Iffy is in there right now?" she mumbled, not realising that both Mars and Uni could hear her.

"Iffy? Who is that?" Mars asked, wondering if he really wanted to know the answer to that question.

"Huh?" Nepgear had not been expecting anyone to hear her, so she was caught off guard for a short moment. "Iffy, or IF if you want to use her actual name, is a member of the Guild here and happens to be a really good friend. She might be out on a mission right now though, but we'll see if we can introduce you to her, she might even teach you a thing or two."

Mars raised an eyebrow at Nepgear, refuting her comment. "Yeah right, like I would need to learn anything new. However, if you wish to introduce me to her then I have no qualms about it."

That ended the conversation, and any further talks about the Planeptune Guild, so the group continued on their merry way around the city. Next up came the various pudding stores that were littered all over the city; the very name caused the young man's stomach to ache just as soon as the original pain had subsided. There was not as much information regarding the pudding stores as there had been about the Guild, but apparently this was all one crazy scheme to raise faith - whether it worked or not was still a mystery, but Neptune did not really seem to care, as far as Mars could tell anyway. Nepgear suggested that they should get a pudding to eat while on the tour, but Mars rejected the idea as politely as possible, much to the joy of his stomach.

Next up was the mall, which happened to be located a few streets away. Along the way Mars noticed how everyone who passed them were utterly well mannered towards the CPU Candidates, the passing people would usually bow their heads or wave a 'hello' to them, some would even behave completely cheerful and ask all sorts of questions. Needless to say it was a big strain on Mars' patience, especially since the afternoon was getting old. The mall itself was big, incredibly big; there were around a few dozen stores of all kinds inside the multi-story building complex that ranged from clothing, food markets, comic book stores, even an anime and manga store with cosplaying outfits - it was rumoured that Noire visits the anime and manga store in disguise to buy all the latest, good looking cosplay outfits.

As soon as Mars, Uni and Nepgear left the mall, with a bag of fresh food from a supermarket, they noticed that the sun was slowly making its way further and further away into the west, the sky began to glow shades of red and yellow. Uni looked up and sighed. "Damn, I think we might have to cut the tour pretty soon," Uni informed Nepgear and Mars. "I don't think Noire would want to stay in Planeptune for much longer, so I think we'll have to cut this a bit shorter than planned. Is that alright with you, Mars?"

Mars nodded as he put his hands in the pockets of his grey jacket. "Yeah, that's okay. I was getting tired anyway, all those exams must have worn me out. So, before this all ends, where to next?"

Nepgear rubbed her chin thoughtfully and hummed slightly before coming to a conclusion. "How about the hospital? I know it sounds a bit morbid, but better safe than sorry. I think it's just down the road and around that street up there."

Uni seemed to approve of it while Mars shrugged, caring little but agreeing with the Planeptunian Candidate. "Alright then, let's get going, I suppose," Mars said.

The group departed the mall and began to walk down the street towards the hospital, seemingly unaware of what, or who, was watching them. Out of the shadows of an alleyway a person walked forward, staring at Uni, Nepgear and Mars, but most predominantly Mars. The figure's face was somewhat concealed by the dark blue hood that was attached to their dark blue coat, a sinister smile was upon their face. The coated figure reached into a pocket and pulled out a mobile phone, they pressed a few buttons before holding it up against the left side of their face, then they began to speak.

"Target is in sight, I repeat, target is in sight," they said, their voice indicating that it was a young man. The man's eyes glowed blood red as they stared at the disappearing figure of Mars. "I'm going in; you better find a way to keep the other two occupied while I retrieve Subject 13, that is if they keep near him." As he turned the phone off and placed it pack in one of the coat's pockets he grinned malevolently. "Now then, time to have some fun."

* * *

"And here it is: the hospital," Nepgear declared with a bright smile as she stood near the large building. "One of our other friends, Compa, works here as a nurse. So if you're ever in need of medical attention you can always stop off here."

"Is it also like a clinic?" Mars asked, hoping that it was true. The scars along his upper body were beginning to ache again, so he needed to know if there was a clinic attached to the hospital in case he felt as if he needed to get some medical supplies.

Fortunately for the young man, Neppear nodded. "Yes there is; it's located on the northern wing, just walk upwards and turn right, you'll find yourself by the entrance there Compa usually works there if she has to, so if you go there you might meet her."

Uni, however, was wondering why Mars was asking directions for the clinic. She decided to voice these thoughts to him. "Hey, Mars, why did you ask where the clinic is? Was there something you needed from it?"

Mars shook his head, yet he was lying. "No, I was just wondering is all."

The Lastation Candidate stared suspiciously at the young man, she did not believe him at all. Then Uni noticed something rather odd: Mars looked rather pale and was gritting his teeth, as if he was in pain, extreme pain. "Are you sure? You look like you're in a lot of pain."

Mars nodded, trying to dissuade the Candidates about their worries. "I-I'm fine, really," he said unconvincingly, not realising that he was rubbing his chest. The young man then looked away and sighed depressingly. "Look, if the tour is over can I just wander around for a while? I do like being by myself sometimes."

Before Uni could say anything she was stopped by Nepgear when the Planeptunian Candidate placed a hand on her shoulder, she then shook her head and dissuaded Uni from stopping the young man. Instead, the raven haired Candidate sighed, crossed her arms and stared in a grumpy way at Mars. "Tch, fine then. But don't be too long, or else you're going to be in a world of pain."

Mars nodded and began to walk away, but as he did so he said two words that made Uni's heart flutter. "Thank you," Mars said in a calm and caring voice; the tone of his voice did not sound like his usual tone, instead it sounded as if it belonged to another person.

"R-R-Right, I-I'll see you back at the Basilicom. S-See you then," Uni stammered as her cheeks flushed with a tinge of red, imagining what it would have been like if Mars had smiled when he said that; the Candidate had never seen him smile, but a part of her mind reckoned it would look outstanding, the other half of her mind tried to combat the thought though.

As the two Candidates stayed together and walked back towards the Basilicom, with Nepgear asking Uni if she was okay, Mars walked away from the two of them in the direction of the clinic. He stayed still for a moment and continued to glance at Uni and Nepgear to ensure that they were not looking at him, the young man sighed with relief as he saw the two disappear around a street corner, only then did Mars resume his walk towards the clinic. He could feel the pain in his upper body starting build up, it was almost unbearable for the young man as he gritted his teeth and winced. _Damn, this pain… it's even worse than what I felt this morning. Shit, just my luck… gah! Grrr, screw all of this!_

As the afternoon began to slip away into evening Mars entered the clinic, his upper body aching in more pain than he was used to. The store was devoid of life, save for a bald man with glasses who stood by the counter, reading a book. Mars glanced around him as he sought after some pain relievers; anything that was not CPU related was his preference. Eventually, after much searching, Mars came across some liquidised pain relievers in a small bottle on a shelf, he picked them up and rushed over to the counter whilst simultaneously reaching into a pocket to retrieve his wallet. The cashier did not really seem to notice him despite laying his book down to complete the transaction. As soon as Mars had bought the pain relievers, which costed around twenty credits, the young man left the store and walked out onto the streets, but he was soon stopped by the large amount of pain that was exploding all over his upper body.

 _I… I can't take any more of this shit! I hate this pain!_ Mars growled and shook his head whilst rubbing his scars. Then came the memories he tried so hard to forget, but could never live down. Quick memory flashes of whips and electrical rods being used against his exposed flesh, scarring him physically and mentally. Mars breathed in and out heavily as he staggered into an abandoned alleyway. _I gotta get this liquid stuff onto my scars and hope for the best!_

Once he felt at ease in the alleyway Mars threw his jacket aside, swiftly took off his shirt and began to apply the pain relieving liquid onto his scars. He piled as much of the white liquid as he could onto his upper body, caring not if some fell to the ground as he rushed about with it. The effect of the pain relievers did not take place instantly, instead it took several minutes before there was some sort of relief; at any rate Mars was pleased with the result. As the liquid hardened around the scars Mars retrieved his shirt and put it back on, but as the young man picked up his grey jacket he heard heavy footsteps approaching him from behind, and an unnatural aura was seeping from them.

"Nice scars, man. Where did you get them?" the stranger asked with a dangerous voice; it belonged to a young man. He stopped near Mars with his hands by his sides, a wicked grin was plastered all over his face, his dark blue hood made some of his face obscure.

Mars sighed and threw his jacket onto the ground before turning around to face the stranger, then he recognised him. "Hold up, you're that same bastard that I met in Leanbox! What are you doing here?"

"Funny you should ask that, because I was going to ask you the same thing. But if you must know, I have come here for you, Subject 13." The dark blue coated man, Ares, grinned malevolently as his body exploded with red energy, his eyes turned blood red and his right hand crackled with red energy. Then came the first punch in the fight: Ares swiped his right arm around and the red energy crackled to life, the deadly energy launched from his hand and smashed into Mars like lightning, tearing the ground apart as it sent Mars across the alleyway.

The former test subject was sent crashing against the brick wall and into a nearby streetlight, leaving a large dent in the centre of the cylinder steel post as the young man fell to the ground with a loud thud, it also sounded as if a bone or two had cracked. Mars let out a pained growl as he attempted to get back onto his feet, his energy rebuilding his broken bones at the same time. Before the young man could get back onto his feet to retaliate against his new enemy Ares walked over and savagely kicked Mars across the face, his booted foot sent him skidding across the road and into the wall of a nearby building. Mars gasped for air as he felt the wind escape him, his muscles twitched violently and his eyes glowed blood red.

Ares sniggered and approached Mars, chuckling in a maddening way. "Come on, is that all you are capable of? I saw you defeat two killachines and I heard you ripped the heart out of some guy who tried to fight you, yet this is all you can do? What a waste, no wonder you were only an expendable prototype."

Mars could no longer take it, the painful memories that he had endured for so long were resurfacing, making his scars and brain ache in pain once more; his muscles continued to twitch violently and his teeth grinded against one another as his rage built up. As Ares began to build up his energy around his fists, glaring at the young man before him, Mars slowly stood up and stared savagely at his opponent, his body now fully covered in red energy. " _I. Will. Kill. You_ ," Mars muttered in an inhuman tone, bearing his teeth and all of his bloodlust.

Ares laughed maniacally and stood in an aggressive position, his only weapons being his energy empowered fists and body. "Finally, a fight! Bring it on, Subject 13! I'll crush you!" Ares roared as he leapt forward; the tips of his fingers looked considerably similar to claws as he struck forth.

The two roared and entered combat, striking blow after blow at each other, ducking and weaving, smashing their fists against each other. Ares ducked and swept a leg underneath Mars, sending him tumbling to the ground before the bloodcrazed man delivered a savage blow to his chin with a red energy infused fist, sending the young man into a wall. Ares sighed depressingly as he pummelled his fists repeatedly into Mars, shattering bones, destroying blood vessels and erupting several organs, a blood trickled out of Mars' mouth as he endured the attack. "Tch, this is getting nowhere," Ares said depressingly. "I was hoping for a bit more fun. Perhaps I have to be a bit more forceful."

The dark blue coated man grabbed Mars by the throat and threw him across the street, sending him into another streetlight. The young, brown haired man coughed up blood and spat it on the ground as he glared at Ares while his body regenerated. As Mars stood up he noticed that Ares was standing still with his right hand extended in front of him, the red energy was swirling around in the palm of his hand. Suddenly, the energy took physical form, turning itself into a blood red glaive - a staff-like weapon with a long, two to three foot handle and a long, curved blade at the top. Ares grinned and charged forward to continue the fight; he swung his glaive at Mars, slicing across his chest before twirling it around and bringing the staff across the young man's face, sending him across the street once more. Mars growled as he got back onto his feet, reaching for his belt to retrieve any weapon he brought with him, only to discover that he had none.

 _Shit, this is going to be bad._ Mars thought as he dodged an incoming blow from Ares, ducking to his left before jumping back. "Just what the hell are you?!" Mars demanded, his body crackling with the power of the Anti-Crystals - also known as Anti-Energy.

"What am I? Why, I'm just like you: a God of War, except I am the perfection of what a War God should be," Ares replied pridefully, his arrogance was clear to see. "I am under orders to retrieve you for the old man, but I want to play around with you for a while and see what you are capable of, but it has been disappointing so far. So come on, fight me!"

To Ares' surprise he heard Mars roar in a dragon-like manner that echoed all over the area round him before charging head-on, the prideful War God had little time to react as his opponent swiftly punched the glaive out of his hands before giving him a roundhouse kick to the side of the face, sending him across the street and into a wall. But Mars was not finished. Before Ares could recover his position he saw Mars pick up the blood red glaive and stare at it before grinning. "Heh, now I've finally got a useful weapon. Time to die, War God," Mars snarled, the Anti-Energy began to spread around the weapon as he surged forward.

The young man bellowed in a war cry as he swung the glaive all across Ares' body, slicing over his chest, arms and legs; Mars' seemed to be a natural at using such a weapon, showing unique elegance as he carved Ares up. The blade of the glaive was slashed across Ares' neck, slicing his throat as blood poured out, coating his skin and clothes in it. As the prideful War God slumped forward Mars stabbed the glaive through Ares' chest and impaled against a nearby wall. Mars felt exhausted, the pain he went through previously and all the exams from earlier had almost drained him, thus he was not up to his normal standards. But Ares was. Mars noticed how his opponent was able to use the red energy as a weapon, which was the opposite of what Mars could do due to his lack of control over his power, it could be said that his red energy actually controlled him. However, the fight was not over.

Just as Mars was recovering his breath Ares opened his eyes and glared at his opponent, growling in an inhuman way as a red mist engulfed his wounds, healing them within seconds. The young, brown haired man finally noticed it as soon as Ares had freed himself from the glaive, landing back onto his feet, yet despite the red mist healing his wounds to perfection blood still stained his clothes and skin. Mars also noticed how pissed off Ares appeared; if he was angry before then this was a new level. When Ares spoke it sounded as if some sort of hellish being had taken control of his vocal cords. "Do you know what pisses me off most in a fight? Pain. The more pain I feel, the more enraged I become, and right now I am feeling a lot of rage. Don't expect any mercy," Ares told Mars in a hellish voice just before he attacked.

Ares threw the glaive straight at Mars, who was able to dodge it in time, then the enraged War God struck forth at his opponent. Running incredibly swiftly Ares caught Mars off guard and delivered several punches; one punch shattered Mars' ribs, another snapped his spine, a third caused heavy internal bleeding. Mars was in agony, blood splattered out of his mouth as he tried to say something, yet could not. Ares, however, was enjoying it a bit too much. "What's wrong, Subject 13? Can't stand up to this?!" Ares taunted the young man. He grabbing his glaive and penetrated it through Mars' gut, he then raised the weapon and Mars into the air before twirling them around in circles for several minutes. After what seemed like a hellish long time to Mars, the young man was thrown off the glaive and down the street in a bloody mess of torn flesh and tattered clothing.

Mars roared once more as he got back onto his feet, the sound of his voice echoed down the street for all to hear - if there was anyone nearby though, the area seemed deserted. Ares, however, was less than amused with Mars' roar. "Is that all you can do?" Ares taunted Mars once more as he stood in a defensive position.

"Just shut up," Mars growled inhumanely. The Anti-Energy began to build up around the young man's body, the air around him seemed to crackle as his fists became densely engulfed with the energy; Mars was beginning to learn how to channel his power around him, but only barely. "Now die."

The brown haired man charged at Ares, hoping to finish him off in one final move that could kill him. Ares was surprised to see Mars run quickly towards him, his right arm pulled back behind to him to deliver a final punch that was possibly aimed for the heart. However, Ares snorted with his opponent's attempt to kill him. The dark blue coated War God threw his glaive at Mars, who shattered it in two with his power, but it did send him slightly off balance, which was what Ares was hoping for. As the Mars went to strike his fist through Ares' heart his opponent sidestepped the young man and brought his own Anti-Energy engulfed fist at him. The result was inevitable. Both stood side-by-side, large amounts of blood trickled down from Mars' mouth and his chest, where Ares had his right arm through, on the other side of Mars' body a bloodied arm and hand were extending out of his back, holding a bloodied and broken piece of his spine.

The mad War God seemed a lot calmer than before, especially when he saw a part of Mars' spine in his hand. "Oh? So you do have a spine after all, I'm impressed," Ares said in a condescending tone, a grin adorned his face. "Let's make this a bit more interesting then, shall we?"

"Wha…" Mars mumbled, coughing up more blood as his black shirt was heavily stained in it. The Anti-Energy had died away, his eyes had returned to their normal blue state. But the pain had only begun.

Ares chuckled as he retracted his hand back inside Mars' body, then he began to channel his Anti-Energy throughout Mars' body, destroying bones and organs in the process. Ares' energy then manifested into a physical form and large spike of red tore through the young man's body and out into the open, shredding his flesh; blood poured out in large quantities. As Ares laughed, clearly enjoying what he was doing, Mars tried to say something and fight back, but he could not. His muscles were continuously being torn up, causing a great strain on his healing ability. Finally, after Ares grasped a hold of Mars' heart, did the young man manage to let out a pained yell that echoed all around them. Suddenly, there were gunshots, followed by Ares releasing his hold on Mars as someone with blonde hair tackled the mad War God, then came blood. Mars fell to the ground and gasped for air as he felt himself slip into an unconscious state. The last thing he saw was a pair of red eyes and black twin-tailed hair, then there was darkness.

* * *

 **A/N: This chapter was finished ahead of time, so I'm proud about that. So, do you think the ending was kinda rushed? I'm not sure about it, but I had a bit of a hard time trying to come up with a suitable ending, so when this popped into my mind I decided to go with it. Aside from that, was the duel between Mars and Ares bloody enough for you readers? Sometimes I think it is bloody enough, other times I don't really know.**

 **So far I have been trying to spread out the whole 'Mars and Uni' thing for a while, but I'm still not sure if I'm doing a good job at it – I do have plans for it in the future, but for the moment I'm still trying to go through that process of not developing it too fast. Oh, and imagining Noire and Uni in skimpy black bikini tamer uniforms with whips and ropes… oooohhh…**

 **Er, anyway, thanks for reading the latest installment of Subject 13: Mars, do your best to have a good day and see – or read – you all in the next chapter.**


	16. A Saddened Mind

**Chapter 15: A Saddened Mind**

Night began to settle over Gamindustri once more as the sun disappeared over the western horizon, covering the sky in darkness with bright, twinkling stars, small batches of clouds littered the night sky and a light breeze blew through the city of Planeptune. As the city entered a state of peacefulness, with streetlights and house lights glowing all over the city, the Basilicom stood out like a beacon in a field due to the amount of power it was using with all of its lights. As members of the staff and the guards began to head back to their home and families a development was occurring inside the Basilicom, it was not a particularly good situation however.

The goddesses of Lastation and Planeptune were sitting around the living room; Neptune was playing a game on her console, Noire was sitting on the couch with a fresh cup of tea in her hands, Nepgear and Uni were in the kitchen cooking something as smoke rose from the stove. What the CPU Candidates were cooking was unknown, but they had insisted on cooking for the night, so their older sisters politely obliged with their wishes. The mood was not very high, instead it was rather grim and filled with uncertainty, and with good reason.

It had been three days since Mars and Ares had fought each other and the young man had not yet woken up from his unconscious state, not only that but his attacker had disappeared from Planeptune City alongside a familiar blonde woman, whom the enraged War God had called 'Enyo', who had tackled him away from Mars just as Uni and Nepgear arrived on the scene. The two CPU Candidates had been walking back to the Planeptune Basilicom when they bumped into a woman they recognised from the butler cafe back in Leanbox; the blonde woman appeared to be aggravated with something, but it was clear that when Uni started to 'interrogate' her about what she did to Mars in Leanbox and what she might be doing in Planeptune the blonde, green eyed woman was becoming highly pissed off. Then it all happened. The Lastation Candidate sighed as she remembered it all.

* * *

 _As Mars walked away both Uni and Nepgear began the long walk back to the Basilicom; at least it seemed long in a way, but that was because neither of them had rested while they were showing Mars around the city. The Lastation Candidate glanced back to see Mars standing still by the street corner, he was rubbing his upper right arm and a pained look was all over his face. Uni considered going back to ask what was wrong with him, but the Candidate knew that even if she did go back to the young man and ask what was wrong with him she would be pushed away, just like every other time. The raven haired tsundere sighed and resumed to walk alongside Nepgear as they journeyed back to the Basilicom._

 _After the two CPU Candidates walked around a street corner and the hospital disappeared from their sight they began to walk down a long street that led back to the shopping mall, then the two of them would turn down another street that led back towards the Basilicom, once they were settled back inside they would wait for Mars to return. But as Uni and Nepgear strolled down the street back towards the mall, saying 'hello' to people as they walk on by, the Candidate of Planeptune noticed how her gun-obsessed friend was always glancing back behind her as well as the worried look that adorned her face. Nepgear thought of a few reasons why Uni looked so concerned, the main thought was of a certain young man. Regardless, Nepgear was starting to get slightly worried for Uni._

" _Are you alright, Uni?" Nepgear asked the Lastation Candidate, wondering what sort of reply she would get, besides a tsundere response._

" _Huh? Oh, yeah, I-I'm fine. Really, I'm all right," Uni replied, her attention snapping back to Nepgear instantly. "Don't worry about me, Nepgear. I was just thinking is all."_

" _Hmm? What were you thinking about, if I may ask?"_

 _Uni glanced away quickly and grumbled, cursing herself for even saying that she was thinking about something. However, when the Candidate looked back at Nepgear, seeing the curious look in her eyes, she sighed and did her best to answer. "W-Well, er… i-it's about Mars."_

 _Nepgear chuckled, amused with how Uni's cheeks were slightly red and how how she was hunched over, trying to avoid the Planeptunian Candidate's gaze. To Uni's complete embarrassment Nepgear began to chuckle. "So you actually do care for him. Sheesh, you're such as tsundere, Uni."_

 _The Lastation Candidate growled, crossed her arms, glanced away towards a nearby wall of an old game store and stopped walking. Uni was not in a good mood, although a least she was in a tsundere mood, so that was not all too bad due to Nepgear's time with her. "Wh-Wh-Wha?! I-I don't care for M-Mars! Th-That would be ridiculous!"_

" _Oh come on, it isn't like you're talking to a random stranger," Nepgear reassuringly told Uni with a bright smile as she stood next to her. "It's okay if you tell me, I'm your best friend after all. Who knows, maybe I can be of assistance."_

 _The tsundere CPU Candidate looked over at Nepgear and sighed, finally giving in to Nepgear's cheeriness. "Oh fine, I'll tell you. I-It is about Mars. It's just, um, d-did you ever notice that Mars looked like he was in a lot of pain just before we left him?"_

 _The Planeptunian CPU Candidate rubbed her chin thoughtfully while her other arm crossed over her breasts, her thoughts were bent on answering Uni's question. "Hmm… oh, come to think of it, Mars did seem like he was in pain, not to mention he did look kinda pale. Should we have asked him about it?"_

 _Uni shook her head. "No, he would not have told us. Besides, you saw my initial attempts to talk to him about it before we left." The tsundere sighed depressingly, glancing back towards the store, mumbling to herself and unaware that Nepgear could hear her. "I hate it when he lies to me. What a stupid idiot, making me worried and everything."_

" _I knew it, you really do care for Mars. You can't lie to me, Uni," Nepgear chuckled, barely able to contain a bright and somewhat cheeky smile from breaking out over her face._

 _The raven haired Candidate swiftly glanced at Nepgear, her cheeks flushed with bright red. "N-N-Nepgear! Wh-Why would I even care about Mars?! He's just… he's just… sh-shut up."_

 _Uni then stormed off in a speed walk to get away from Nepgear and the embarrassment she was feeling, but the Lastation CPU Candidate was a little too quick for her own good. As the Lastation Candidate passed by the game store the front door swung open and a person stepped out with a small plastic bag in their left hand, colliding with Uni with a savage headbutt. The two fell to the ground, both groaning in pain as they rubbed their heads. The person Uni ran into was a young woman with blonde hair tied up in a ponytail at the back, a zipped up brown jacket was worn alongside a pair of dark grey pants and steel cap boots, her eyes were dark green and a light red mark was visible on her forehead from when she and Uni just collided. The blonde woman appeared to be aggravated, as shown when she got back onto her feet and snarled at Uni._

" _Grrr, what the hell is wrong with you?" the woman growled, rubbing her forehead to null the pain. When she took a good look at Uni and Nepgear both Candidates saw the shocked look on her face, which was quickly replaced by one filled with animosity as she mumbled to herself. "What the… CPUs? What are they doing here?"_

" _Um, s-sorry about that, I didn't see you there," Uni apologised as best she could whilst getting back onto her feet. "Are you alright? Need some help?"_

" _Tch. I'm fine, I don't need any help, especially from goddesses," the woman replied, saying the last part of her sentence quietly and with abject hatred. As soon as Nepgear caught up with Uni the blonde woman finally recognised the two, remembering where she had seen them before. Her eyes widened with shock and her teeth became clenched, then she picked up the small plastic bag and began to walk away from the two Candidates in a hurry._

 _As the dark green eyed woman swiftly marched away Nepgear scratched her chin thoughtfully, wondering where she had seen her before, then it came to the Planeptunian Candidate. "Hey, wasn't she the one who was in the butler cafe and knocked Mars out along with a guy in a dark blue coat?"_

" _What?" Uni blurted out, glancing at Nepgear before looking back at the disappearing figure of the blonde woman. The Lastation Candidate narrowed her eyes and finally recognised her, the Candidate's suspicion of her rose immensely. "Yeah, you're right. There's something off about her though, like she's up to something sinister. Plus, she did hit Mars with that other guy's head, so that act of violence is enough to make me question her motives."_

 _Nepgear watched as Uni took off after the blonde woman, eager to catch up to her and ask several questions, leaving the Planeptunian Candidate behind. "Hey! Hold on, Uni! Wait for me!" She then ran after Uni, hoping to catch up with her before things got out of hand._

 _Uni quickly caught up to the blonde, dark green eyed woman as swiftly as she could. The raven haired Candidate stepped in front of her, barring the blonde woman from walking forward any further. The CPU Candidate of Lastation stared at the blonde woman with a suspicious glare, which was returned with a similar yet more hostile glare. "What do you want, CPU?" the woman questioned in a vicious tone, making her distaste for the goddesses publicly clear._

" _I need to ask you a few questions," Uni replied, pointing at the woman's face, ignoring the fact that she was slightly smaller in height than the blonde woman. "It's too fishy to see a suspicious person like you strolling around here, especially after what you did to Mars back in Lastation."_

 _The blonde, dark green eyes woman slumped forward and grumbled malevolently. "Wow, you go straight to the point, don't you?" she asked with an annoyed tone. "Just what makes me suspicious, pray tell?"_

" _You just do, especially with that look on your face. So, what are you doing here?" Uni crossed her arms and began to interrogate the suspicious woman, knowing that there was something wrong with her._

 _Nepgear, however, was more worried with Uni causing a scene in public, and she had a good reason to be worried. People who walked past or were standing nearby were giving an odd eye towards Uni and the blonde woman, wondering what was going on with them. The mecha-obsessed Candidate of Planeptune chuckled nervously with all of the attention that was focused on them. She walked up to Uni and tapped her on the right shoulder, gaining her attention. "Um, Uni, calm down. Everyone's watching us," Nepgear informed the Lastation Candidate._

 _Uni quickly glanced around her and blushed out of embarrassment, mumbling to herself in a tsundere way before the dark green eyed woman sighed and crossed her arms. "Look, just leave me alone, got it? I've got better things to do than be in an argumentative conversation with a tsundere CPU Candidate who can't even voice how she cares for people, not even close friends or her own sister. If you're trying to find out more about me just because I was a little violent with Mars, and for dragging him out of the butler cafe, then you are more pathetic than I originally thought."_

" _Wh-What?! I'm pathetic?! Why you…. Grrrrr!" Uni growled, her fists clenched tightly as a snarl escaped from her, sweat flowed down her forehead and hands from the rage that was building up within her. The Lastation Candidate's opinion on the blonde, dark green eyed woman was worse than ever. Uni had never been insulted so publicly before, and the result was causing many people to start talking amongst themselves, voicing what they thought of what had been said._

 _That was when they heard the dragon roar. Everyone's attention was caught by the echoing sound of a beast, at least to many it sounded like a monster, but Uni knew better than that. The Lastation Candidate recognised the roar, for it belonged to the person whom Noire had charged her with watching out for. "Mars," Uni muttered, staring off into the distance where the roar was heard. "Oh no, what has that idiot gotten himself into now?"_

 _The blonde woman glanced over towards the location of the monstrous roar, a mixed expression was on her face as her fists clenched tightly, an angry look then grew over her face as she heard the sounds of crackling energy in the distance. "Dammit! He was supposed to retrieve the subject, not fight him," the woman muttered to herself in an aggressive tone. Then she began to run away through an alleyway._

" _H-Hey! Wait up! Where do you think you're going?! I'm not through with you yet!" Uni shouted at the young woman as she ran after her. Nepgear sighed and ran after the two of them, doing her best to ignore the awkward and questioning stares that resonated from the nearby people._

 _As Uni was about to catch up with the blonde woman , who was pretty quick on her feet, red energy began to glow around her body and when she turned around the Lastation Candidate saw the blood red glow in her eyes. The woman stopped, swiftly swung around and lashed her right arm out towards Uni, the red energy crackled to life as it sprang out like lightning towards the raven haired Candidate, scarring the nearby brick wall and destroying chunks of it as the energy exploded in front of the Lastation Candidate. Uni and Nepgear looked on in shock as they recognised the power they witnessed._

" _That power… you're just like Mars," Uni muttered, her eyes wide open with shock. "It's just like with that ranger-like person who attacked us the day before. Just who the hell are you? What are you?"_

 _The blonde woman snarled viciously as she stood her ground, her arms glowing brightly. "If you really must know who I am then you can call me Enyo, and I am a War Goddess. Now stay away from me, or else I will kill you and all of your friends!" Then she was off in a rush, making her way as swiftly as possible to the location of Mars' and Ares' duel._

 _Nepgear did not stay still to think about it despite the information that was thrown at her and Uni, instead she rushed ahead to catch up with the War Goddess before she got away. Uni staggered for a moment whilst being lost in thought before realising that Enyo and Nepgear were just up ahead, with a short growl the Lastation Candidate swiftly followed after them, hoping to catch up with the blonde woman and continue interrogating her. As they neared the end of the alleyway Uni, Nepgear and Enyo heard the sound of a person in pain was heard. After passing through another alleyway the three of them arrived in a deserted street with various long craters all over the place, two streetlights were bent over, splatters of blood were all over the place and burn marks were scattered over the walls and street, but the centrepiece of what they were looking was in the centre of the street._

 _In the centre of the street stood Mars and Ares, but there was something wrong going on between the two of them, it did not take them long to figure out what was going on. Large amounts of blood were flowing down on the ground, a red mist was enveloping around his back and a pain expression adorned his face. Enyo cried out in shock and ran forward towards the two young man, knowing exactly what was going on and decided to do something about it. Uni snarled and materialised her rifle, aiming down the scope towards Ares' head, not caring about the fact that what she was going to do would be considered as murder. But something different happened instead. As Nepgear cried out for the Lastation Candidate to stop it was too late, Uni fired a round at Ares with the bullet aimed for his head, but to her shock she watched as Enyo tackled Ares away from Mars, pulling a heavily bloodied arm out with him. Due to the tackle Uni's bullet collided not with Ares, but with Enyo instead._

 _As Mars fell to the ground in a bloodied mess, and as the Candidates of Lastation and Planeptune stared on in horror, the bullet grazed along the left side of Enyo's head as she descended to the ground with Ares in her arms. When the War Goddess smacked onto the street her head smashed onto the ground, rendering her unconscious as a red mist healed her wound, yet blood still stained her blonde hair. Ares, no longer caring about his mission or about Uni and Nepgear, rushed over to his battle companion and tried to shake her back to consciousness, but failed in the attempt. The enraged War God swiftly picked up Enyo and held her head close to his chest, then he turned around and glared savagely at the two Candidates._

" _This isn't over, CPU Candidates. I will come back for you, and I will slaughter you all.I don't care how long it takes, but it will be done," Ares warned them as he began to retreat, leaving many questions behind._

 _But that did not matter to Uni, instead she was more focused on the young man that had collapsed onto the ground. The Lastation Candidate ran over to him and knelt down, watching the red mist heal his wounds, yet it did nothing to stop him from fading tntp an unconscious state. Uni panicked and tried to resuscitate the young man without resorting to too much physical contact, but it failed. She watched as Mars' blue eyes closed and his breathing became more slow. "No, no! Mars! Wake up!" Uni pleaded with him, doing her best to wake him up by shaking the young man about, failing miserably. "Don't you dare go to sleep on me like this! Stay awake! Mars!"_

* * *

Uni remembered it all too well, for it was always on her thoughts no matter what she was doing, especially at that moment when she was cooking alongside Nepgear. The Planeptunian CPU Candidate could see the concerned look all over Uni's face as she stirred the fried rice whilst adding some sort of spice to it; Nepgear wanted to go over to the Lastation Candidate and say something comforting to her, but she did not know what to say that would make her feel better. Instead, Nepgear decided it was better to leave Uni alone and let her deal with some of the cooking.

 _Yes, it's better to just leave Uni alone for the moment, she has too much on her mind right now._ Nepgear thought as she carefully cut up several slices of meat. _Still, it's hard to not worry about Uni, especially with Mars still unconscious. I just hope both of them will be all right._

Nearby in the living room sat Neptune and Noire, both were on the couch in front of the TV with game controllers in their hands, well, Neptune had a game controller in her hands while Noire was finishing off the last of her tea - why she wanted to have a cup of hot tea at night was beyond anyone's reasoning. Regardless, the patron CPUs of Planeptune and Lastation waited for dinner to be cooked, but until then they both minded their own business and only paid attention to the game that Neptune was playing on her console, yet their thoughts would occasionally turn towards Mars. As Noire finished her cup of tea and rested it on top of the coffee table she sighed, catching Neptune's attention.

"Thinking about something in that noggin of yours?" the perky, pudding-obsessed goddess asked, beaming a smile at the raven haired tsundere.

"Hmm? Oh, nothing much, just hoping that Uni and Nepgear are alright with doing dinner for the night," Noire replied, glancing at Neptune with her arms resting beside her.

"Is that so? I thought you were thinking about our resident protagonist who's taking a long nap." Neptune chuckled when she saw Noire's reaction, immediately knowing that she was correct in thinking that the tsundere goddess had been thinking about Mars.

"Wh-What?! N-No I haven't! I-I couldn't care less about what happens to that pervert of a young man!" Noire then flicked one of her twintails and looked the other way, her arms crossed beneath her breasts and a disdainful look spread across her face. "Besides, that scientist of yours said that there was nothing to worry about. Mars will be fine, so there is no reason to be concerned about him at all."

The Goddess of Planeptune chuckled once more as she entered the game menu. "That's what you might say, but you think differently than what you say, you big ol' tsun. Besides, it's only natural to worry about someone you care about, even if it is only a scrape of care. Just take a look at Uni over there, that mini version of you cares for Mars despite what she says, it's only natural. Anyway, Mars is a protagonist, he'll get through this well enough 'cause he's a good guy, all protagonists are. Well, at least most are anyway." Neptune's thoughts then broke the fourth wall once more as she began to think about a certain fanfic involving village massacres.

Noire sighed, clearly unamused as she glanced at Neptune with an irritated look. "Stop breaking the fourth wall, Neptune, it's getting tiresome."

"Says you," the perky CPU responded with a cheeky grin. Neptune then grabbed a spare controller and handed it over to the Lastation CPU, confusing her at first. "Come on, let's play a few rounds while we wait for Nep Jr and mini you to get dinner ready."

Noire would have argued with Neptune but instead decided against it, merely because she was too tired to even care at that moment. She took the controller and a grin formed across her face. "Hmph. Very well then, Neptune, if you so wish to be trampled underfoot by yours truly then I suppose I can oblige."

Neptune laughed, amused with Noire's choice of words.. "If you say so. Now then, let's battle it out!"

As Uni and Nepgear continued with the cooking as best they could, and while Neptune and Noire battled it out in one of Neptune's many games, Histoire sat on top of her floating, magical tome in the hallway, watching the four goddesses with their endeavors. The blonde fairy sighed, yet a faint smile broke out over her face. _At least they seem alright, especially Nepgear and Uni, considering what happened to them and what they saw three days ago._ Histoire thought, her gaze directed towards the two CPU Candidates. _Still, they do not know what power Mars, or those two attackers. Thanks to Akane I now know, but I still wonder if I should inform the others about it. Hmm, maybe tomorrow or at another date in the future._

Histoire's thoughts were then interrupted by the sounds of footsteps coming from further away behind her, the Oracle of Planeptune turned around to see in the distance her chief scientist walking by towards the elevator, a backpack was slung over her back and her white lab coat had been replaced with a hooded purple jacket with dark purple lining. As Akane walked up to the lift and pressed a button she was approached by Histoire, who was more than curious about what her chief scientist was up to. "Where are you going, Akane?" the Oracle asked.

Alane turned around just tas the elevator arrived, the door opened yet the scientist did not enter. "I have to get going, Lady Histoire. I will be gone for some time, for now at least," she replied with an empathetic expression, whether she forced it or not was not overly clear. "I don't know when I will be back, but it is not in the near future. Give me a couple of months off at best."

The blonde, small fairy Oracle was confused, and with good reason. "But why are you already leaving, and why can't you explain it? You only came back from adventuring a few days ago when Mars turned up for his medical and physical exams. Is it truly impossible for you to explain why you keep leaving so suddenly?"

Akane nodded. "I'm afraid that's just the case, Lady Histoire. Oh, and you don't actually need me right now to look over Mars, he's coming along just fine, he'll be up and about before you can say 'supercalifragilisticexpialidocious'." Then she was off, entering the elevator and grinning in an unnatural way at Histoire, who was trying and failing to say the over excessive word.

"Supercalfig… supercalifgriger… supercalifragilersi… tch, forget it, I'm never going to say it properly," Histoire grumbled to herself as she floated back in the direction of her office. "I have more important matters to attend to, for a start all of these documents and paperwork concerning the small scale destruction that occurred recently. "My day never seems to end."

* * *

Neptune stuffed food down her throat, never stopping to take normal mouthfuls or even regulate the amount she was eating all together. After her plate was picked clean the chirpy goddess immediately set even more food onto her plate, a hungered look formed over her face as she picked up her knife and fork. "This is just delicious, my dear Nep Jr and Mini Noire," Neptune congratulated Nepgear and Uni while licking her lips.

"Sheesh, go easy on the food, would you?" Noire chastised Neptune, giving her a glare. "There's not going to be much left for us if you keep eating all of those pork cutlets, spiced rice, seasoned pasta and the salad, not to mention all of the other things that Uni and Nepgear cooked up. Go easy on it."

"Come on, it's not like we're gonna get fat or anything, we can't change you know. Besides, I'm starving. You can't keep a Nep away from delicious, mouth-watering food that is just demanding to be eating." The CPU of Planeptune had sparkles in her eyes as she began to munch away on her second serving. After a few minutes she looked up and stared at the two Candidates, glancing back and forth between the two of them. "So, when is dessert gonna be served? Is it going to be pudding?"

Uni sighed and frowned at the Planeptunian goddess. "If you want dessert then you can go get it yourself, the pudding is in the fridge where it always is. Just don't eat too much."

Neptune saluted in a sloppy manner, grinning as she did so. "Right on! Just let me finish off my delicious food and I'll be all set. I guess everyone will want one, right? Actually, I'm gonna get you all one, even if you don't want one I'm still gonna give you one."

"Whatever, just do what you gotta do," Uni grumbled depressingly, her chin rested on the palm of her left hand, the elbow of her left arm rested upon the tabletop while she ate the last of the freshly cooked food on her plate. Despite her best attempts to look as normal as possible everyone at the table could see the concern that was all over her face, she was also the last person to finish eating her dinner.

As Nepgear began to wash up the dishes and cutlery, and as Neptune and Noire returned to the TV and continued to play their game without pause, Uni walked over to a small plate with food covered and tightly sealed by aluminium foil. The Planeptunian CPU Candidate watched as the raven haired tsundere picked it up gently and began to walk out into the hallway, and Nepgear guessed - correctly - where the Lastation Candidate was heading to. _She's going to see if Mars is awake. Let's hope that he's alright, whether he is awake or not._ Nepgear thought as a faint smile started to spread across her face. _Good luck, Uni. I'm not sure what is going on with Mars right now, but if he is conscious then I hope you can cheer him up, that is if he is feeling down._

Uni stepped through the hallway and made her way for the guest rooms, silently counting the rooms as she looked for Mars room. The Lastation Candidate was not quite sure why she was forcing herself to be nice to Mars, but she felt guilty about not doing anything to help, even though her tsundere nature was berating her for even attempting to help Mars. The raven haired Candidate blushed and gripped the plate tightly, to her it felt as if her grip would break it in half, such was the embarrassment that she could feel burning through her mind. _Wh-Why am I so embarrassed about all this? I-I'm just going to see if Mars has regained consciousness, i-i-it isn't because I'm worried about him or anything! Yeah, that's right! I'm not worried about him at all! But if that's the case… why do I feel so sad for him?_ Uni questioned herself repeatedly as she neared Mars' room, her breathing becoming more heavy as she drew closer to the young man's door.

When the Lastation Candidate stood in front of Mars' door she heard the sounds of someone groaning from the other side, she gasped and opened the door, swinging the door open and stepping inside the room swiftly the Candidate laid her eyes upon Mars in his bed. The young man was laying on the right side of his body with half of his face buried in his creamy coloured pillow, from what Uni could tell he appeared to be conscious, but there was something off about him. As Uni approached him and stared at his face she finally realised what was wrong with the young man: he was crying, yet there was no noise to be heard, only tears as they flowed down from his eyes and onto the pillow, staining it. Sweat poured down from everywhere on his body, his left hand gripped the bedsheet beneath him tightly, his teeth clenched together, his muscles and bones were trembling, all while tears continued to run down his face without pause. It was unlike anything Uni had seen.

 _What the… this isn't what I was expecting to see._ Uni thought as she watched Mars twitch around in his sleep, whimpering sounds could be heard from the young man as sweat continued to pour down his flesh and clothes. The Lastation Candidate grimaced, laid the plate down on the nearby desk and sat down on a chair, setting it right next to the bed. _What's wrong with him? He never cries, I didn't think he was capable of it. Does it have something to do with nightmares? Why does Mars have to be so secretive?_

Suddenly Mars let out a pained yell as he awoke, his left hand swiftly reached out and grabbed Uni's right hand, clasping it tightly uncontrollably, then the young man's eyes shot open and he began to pant heavily for air, tears stopped flowing out of his eyes. As Mars gasped for breath raggedly he looked up to see himself holding Uni's hand, a deep shade of red grew across both their faces. "S-S-S-Sorry! I-I-I didn't mean to do that!" Mars blurted out in a stammering mess, his left hand retracted away from the Lastation Candidate quickly.

"I-I-It's alright, just be more careful next time you wake up!" Uni retorted, glaring at the young man. Silence reigned for a few minutes before the CPU Candidate plucked up the courage to speak about something that was bothering her. "Hey… um, Mars, why were you crying?"

The brown haired man grimaced grimly and averted his eyes away from Uni, he clasped the bedsheet in a tight grip and wiped away his tear-stained face. "I-I wasn't crying, y-you were just imagining things," Mars responded in a panic, his blatant lie falling on deaf ears.

Uni shook her head and stared at Mars, she appeared unusually sad as she tightly gripped the edge of her dress. "Mars, I don't understand why you keep building these mental barriers between me and you, it's as if you hate it when I or the others are around and you try to block us out. It's real frustrating. Do you hate us or something? Do you hate me? Is that it?" Uni asked Mars in a quiet tone. What was surprising was how Uni was being serious without her tsundere tendencies coming out to wreak havoc.

Mars was stunned at first with what words Uni had thrown at him, he stammered for a moment before answering. "Wh-What? No, no that's not the reason. I don't hate any of you, especially you, Uni. I could never hate you."

The raven haired Candidate blushed and glanced away. "Idiot, saying that and all," she muttered quietly before looking back at Mars. "A-Anyway, so if you don't hate me then why all of these secrets? It's frustrating me."

Mars looked away, clearly saddened by something. "I'm sorry, Uni, but I just can't tell you."

"And why is that?"

The young man glanced back at Uni, catching her off guard when she saw the tears starting to come back; deep pools of sadness filled his eyes. This was not the same Mars Uni knew and respected, this was different, as if he had changed from a tough guy to a broken man. It made the Candidate sad and pity him. When Mars replied to Uni's question he sounded almost quiet and distant. "Because I don't want to relive the memories again, I just can't handle it," Mars responded. "Tch, you must think I'm pathetic for being like this."

Uni shook her head, shocking the young man. "No, I don't think that at all. It's actually the opposite. Hey, if it makes you feel any better, I won't tell anyone about this, if that's alright with you." A thankful nod from Mars sealed the deal. "Okay then. Oh, by the way, I made some dinner for you. Er, if you don't want it then that's alright, i-i-it isn't because I made it s-specially for you or anything, me and Nepgear made a bit too much is all."

Mars chuckled as he began to sit up, the start of a faint yet failure of a smile began to form on his face as he was handed the now uncovered plate as well as a knife and fork. "Thanks, Uni, I appreciate it," he thanked the CPU Candidate, making her glance away due to embarrassment. As Mars began to eat his dinner he noticed Uni leaving his room. "Hey, Uni, where are you going?"

The tsundere Candidate of Lastation stopped walking and glanced around at him. "I'm just heading back to let the others know that you're awake and eating dinner. I'll see you in the morning."

Mars looked as if he was about to ask Uni a question, but he refrained himself from doing so, instead he waved a goodbye to her and sighed. "Alright then. Goodnight, Uni. Sleep well."

"You too, Mars. See you in the morning," Uni responded with a faint smile. "If you ever need to talk to me about something, don't hesitate to tell me about it. I-It isn't as if I want to help or anything! Don't get any funny ideas!"

After Uni closed the bedroom door quickly and walked down the hallway in a hurry, her footsteps making light echoes in the empty space around her, Mars slouched back against the bed frame behind him, he sighed and rubbed the scars over his chest as he stared at the food in front of him sadly. "Loneliness. The one thing everyone wants to avoid, and yet that is all I can accomplish. I hate that feeling," Mars muttered to himself grimly before returning to his food, silently enjoying the flavour and the taste.

As soon as he finished his meal the young man rested the plate on the desk and attempted to go back to sleep, yet his sleeping troubles returned, plus with the recent nightmare and the effects that Uni witnessed with her own eyes, Mars did not feel like going to sleep again. So the young man spent the rest of the night awake, dreading the thought of going back to sleep in case another nightmare took hold of his mind.

* * *

 **A/N: Finished this earlier than expected, I guess I am on a role! The next chapter should be out in a few weeks, at least two by my reckoning, that is if I manage to finish off some of the other chapters I'm working on quickly to get back to this. Updates will be occurring more rapidly due to my increasing interest in seeing this fanfic through to the end, and this has a long way to go before I can consider it near the end. Anyway, this is a smaller Author Note section because I really don't have much else to say. So, if you have any suggestions please do inform me, I take aboard just about everything that is thrown in my direction, and do your best to have a good day.  
**


	17. Homeward Bound

**Chapter 16: Homeward Bound**

First was darkness, then came the sounds of chirping birds outside the window, finally all that could be seen was a blurry light. Uni had woken up after a troubled sleep. She grumbled to herself in an unintelligible language, began to rise out of her bed before giving up after a few seconds, then the CPU Candidate gave up and collapsed back into the light purple and creamy coloured bed, preferring not to get up. After a couple of minutes, which felt like hours to the raven haired Candidate, Uni gave up trying to go back to sleep and decided to just lay on her back, staring at the ceiling with nothing to think much about - not a whole lot at least. She tried to clear her mind and think about nothing, hoping that might just get her to go back to sleep, but as the tsundere Candidate began to drift back to sleep her thoughts were suddenly filled with a certain young man crying silently in a dark and lonely room with no one to comfort him, no one to make sure he was okay, no one to keep the pain away.

 _Why am I thinking about these things? I-I-I shouldn't be worried about him! Th-That would be pointless! It isn't as if I can help him or anything… right?_ Uni questioned herself as she rolle over onto the left side of her body, messing up the bedsheet and the quilt in the process. Her eyes were drawn to the window, there she saw rays of sunlight shine through as the birds, annoyingly in her opinion, continued to chirp. Yet despite trying to distract herself all her thoughts were focused on was Mars; she kept picturing him alone in his room, the darkness surrounding him in an unnatural way. She shook her head and slapped herself across the right cheek, breaking her concentration. _This is ridiculous, I shouldn't be thinking about Mars being all depressed and everything. It's not like he actually is depressed as far as I can tell, he's just… I don't know. I'm not even sure what he's going to be like after all that happened last night._

Her thoughts were quickly broken by a short series of light tapping noises on the door, Uni leaned up and groaned as she saw a shadow from the other side. With a tired groan the tsundere Candidate lifted herself out of bed and steadily walked to the door, almost tripping along the way. Once she reached the bedroom door and grabbed the handle, opening the door, the Candidate began to let out her frustration. "What is it?! Couldn't you tell that I was… oh, Nepgear. I-I'm s-s-sorry! I didn't mean to be rude or anything!"

The CPU Candidate of Planeptune chuckled and beamed a smile at Uni, calming her down. "Don't worry about it, Uni, it's alright. I guess I should have woken you up a bit later, sorry about that."

Uni shook her head apologetically, rubbing the back of her head with anxiety, so it seemed at least. "D-Don't worry about it, there's no need to apologise. Anyway, what's the time? It feels kinda early for all of this to be happening."

"That's because it is early, it's around eight in the morning last I checked. Noire wanted me to get you up earlier than that but I was sidetracked," Nepgear explained. As she did this the Candidate noticed that Uni did indeed appear to be tired, in fact she looked slightly troubled as well. Uni's raven hair, which was usually in two twintails, was flowing down her back and stuck up everywhere, her eyes were barely open and her black nightgown was loose in a few places; overall Uni looked like a mess.

The Lastation Candidate yawned, barely able to keep herself up. "Alright then, thanks for getting me out of bed and everything. Now then I better... " Uni then sniffed the air, noticing that something was cooking from another place in the Basilicom. "Hey, Nepgear, is something cooking?"

"Hmm? Oh, yeah, breakfast is being cooked up in the kitchen, it should be ready in ten minutes or so. Do you want some?" Nepgear responded, asking Uni the last question soon afterwards. Uni replied with an enthusiastic nod, making the Planeptunian Candidate chuckle once more. "Okay then, I'll make sure that there's some left over for you when you come to the kitchen. Oh, by the way, you look kinda troubled. Is something wrong?"

"Wh-What? N-Nothing, there's nothing wrong or troubling going on," Uni stammered in response, but it was a lie, and Nepgear knew it. Before she could question the tsundere Candidate about it Uni continued. "Look, even if there was something troubling me, which there isn't, I wouldn't want to talk about it. I'm fine, really. There's nothing to worry yourself about, Nepgear."

Nepgear appeared sceptical at first, unsure about whether to question Uni further or to just head back to the kitchen and ask the same question later on. She soon decided on the latter. "Well, if you insist. Again, breakfast should be ready in about ten minutes, do hurry."

And with that the conversation was over. Nepgear walked back down the hallway and out of sight, disappearing around a corner that led to some stairs that went upwards to the upper levels, and to the kitchen. Once gone, Uni closed the bedroom door behind her and started to get dressed into her normal attire as fast as possible, mainly because she wanted to have breakfast due to her rumbling stomach. As Uni brushed her hair down before tying her hair into two twintails with two small black ribbons her thoughts rushed all over the place, but focused on either what was for breakfast and a certain young man, she mentally slapped herself and shook her head violently to keep her thoughts clear as she began to tie up her hair. Once done she emerged out of her room - a guest room that had been modified to her liking - and strolled out into the hallway, but as the raven haired Candidate began to walk towards the stairs she stopped, glanced around behind her and sighed.

"Well, I guess just checking on him once will be enough to satisfy my mind," Uni muttered to herself as she began to walk in the opposite direction of the stairs, instead choosing to check up on Mars and see how he was. As she turned around a corner and neared Mars' room she could not help but feel a little embarrassed, though she had no idea why; she guessed that it had something to do with what she witnessed last night. When Uni finally reached Mars' bedroom door she stood in front of it, her right hand raised to knock when she suddenly stopped in her tracks, her hand a mere inch away from the door. For some reason the Candidate could not understand her cheeks were burning in a bright red, a feeling of unease and nervousness rushed over her like a tidal wave. _Wh-Why am I getting so nervous for? I-I'm only here to see if Mars is alright, that's all! Nothing more, nothing less. But if that's the case, why am I so nervous?_

Eventually, Uni gulped and knocked on the door three times, the sound of her knuckles hitting against the wooden door echoed down the hallway and around the stairs. After a minute of waiting there was no response, resulting in Uni knocking on the door again, this time a little louder and with more force. Finally, after a couple of more minutes of waiting the Lastation Candidate had had enough. Uni clasped a hand around the door handle and opened the door, she stepped inside the bedroom to see the curtains covering the window with only a few rays of sunlight shining through, the bed was a total mess and iliac coloured pyjamas were sprawled over the cream coloured quilt. The raven haired Candidate saw several thin pieces of black and grey thread with needles attached to them, they were laying around on the nearby desk next to two empty 600ml bottles of Nepsi. Regardless of what Mars had been doing during the early hours of the morning he was not in his room. Uni grumbled to herself and closed the door behind her as she made her way back towards the stairs, silently wishing to regain the last few minutes of her life back.

When Uni finally arrived in the kitchen she saw a plate filled with various kinds of different food that had been freshly cooked a couple of minutes beforehand, from what she could tell from sight and scent it was pretty good. Nearby in the living room was Nepgear, the CPU Candidate was sitting on a chair at the table with a pen in her right hand and a piece of paper was below her, she appeared to be writing a list of some kind, possibly a shopping list. Noire, Neptune and Mars were nowhere to be seen, although Uni guessed - correctly - that the patron Goddess of Planeptune was still in bed, hugging her pudding-shaped pillow in a tight grip; Noire could have been anywhere within the Basilicom, but it was highly likely that she already had breakfast and was dealing with some sort of other problem. However, after glancing around for a minute Uni finally saw Mars outside on the balcony, dangerously sitting on the white railing with his legs dangling down and his hands gripping the railing, his gaze was either directed towards the city or the sky. Without a second thought Uni took hold of the plate and brought it over to the table where some cutlery were located, as she sat down the Candidate looked at the freshly cooked food once more, taking in the aroma of the fried bacon, eggs, tomatoes, mushrooms, toast and onions. It reminded her of the breakfast she had a few days ago, before Mars was rendered unconscious; it brought a pained memory of seeing the young man silently crying in his room back to her mind.

Nepgear noticed the grim look on Uni's face, reminding her of their conversation from before. She also remembered Uni telling her not to worry about anything, as if everything was under control, yet the Planeptunian Candidate could see through the words and recognise that her best friend was troubled about something, or rather someone. Yet despite knowing this, Nepgear decided to not talk about it due to how Uni would take it - after all, tsunderes do not take it well when people prive through their thoughts and emotions. Instead, as Uni ate her breakfast with a surprised look across her face, Nepgear decided to ask her what things should be put down on the shopping list. "Hey, Uni, want to help me with this shopping list?" Nepgear asked beaming her bright smile at her. "I've already got most of the bare essentials down, but I think I may need some more in case other people come around."

Uni looked up from her plate of food and rubbed her chin, attempting to think of some extra things for Nepgear to get while shopping, yet nothing came to her. "Hmm, I don't really know. I suppose you can just get whatever you want to get, just don't go overboard and waste all of your credits again." Nepgear chuckled in response to that remark, resulting in Uni smiling. The Lastation Candidate's attention was then stolen once more by her breakfast, which she was enjoying. "This is a pretty good, Nepgear. Thanks for cooking it."

To Uni's surprise Nepgear looked quizzically at her for a moment before shaking her head. "Huh? Oh, no, I didn't cook breakfast. And before you ask, no, it wasn't Noire or Neptune; Noire is with Histoire while Neptune is sleeping."

"Then who did cook breakfast?"

"Mars," was Nepgear's reply, shocking the Lastation CPU Candidate. The Planeptunian Candidate chuckled with amusement as she watched Uni react to the news. "Yeah, I thought the same when he offered to make breakfast for a change, but since he said that he had learned a thing or two about cooking over the last two years I thought it would be interesting to see what he could make."

"Wait, he said he could cook and has been learning it over the last two years? When did he tell you this? He never told me about it," Uni pouted, slightly annoyed that Nepgear probably knew more about Mars than she herself did.

"He told me about it three or for days ago, it was the day when we met those War Gods out in the city," Nepgear responded, slightly grimacing as she remembered the event. "But yes, Mars did tell me that he learned how to cook around two years ago, I think it was just after I made him breakfast as well, right before he went off to do his examinations. Didn't he tell you about any of this?"

Uni shook her head. "No, in fact he barely talks about his past, so I can only guess bits and pieces. Why can't he just tell me about himself? Why does he have to keep up these barriers between us?" the Lastation Candidate mumbled quietly, forgetting that Nepgear could hear her. She stood up and looked over towards Mars, her fingers twitching slightly. "I'm going to go and see M-Mars, I'll be back soon."

Nepgear nodded and went back to her shopping list, watching Uni leave her plate by the sink and walk over to the glass door, the Candidate stepped outside into the cool morning air and stared at the young man, watching as his scruffy brown hair waved around in the breeze. The raven haired Candidate approached him slowly, not completely sure if she should be near him, until Mars spoke. "Hello, Uni. What brings you out here this early?" Mars asked the Candidate, keeping his gaze directly in front of him.

"Nothing much, just to… um, th-th-thank you, for b-breakfast," Uni thanked the young man nervously, her tsundere nature coming out as a slightly embarrassed blush appeared on her cheeks. "I-I-It was pretty good, I didn't expect you to be so good at cooking. But why didn't you tell me about it?"

"You never asked," was Mars' reply, his monotone voice annoying the Lastation CPU Candidate. What he said next surprised her though. "Want me to cook for you again tonight? I wouldn't mind doing it just for you, Noire and Kei."

This caught Uni off guard for a moment, her shocked expression then folded into a small smile. "Sure, go ahead. W-Would you need some help with that?"

Mars shook his head. "No, I can handle it, I know it. Thanks for offering to help anyway, though I guess even if you were helping you would just berate me the whole time, Noire already did that to me this morning for some reason or another. Again, thanks for offering to help."

The Candidate of Lastation walked closer to the young man until she got a good look at his face, that was when she saw that his usual grumpy or stoic expression had a slight happiness to it, the corners of his mouth were sliding upwards in an attempt to smile, not only that but he seemed quite calm. A far cry to what Uni had seen the previous night when she had entered Mars' room. After a short moment of silence between the two of them, discluding the nearby chirping birds and the few cars and motorbikes that were roaming about, the young man turned his head around and looked at Uni, his blue eyes stared directly at her face, causing her to glance away due to the intensity of it. It was awkward for Uni, mainly because she wanted to talk to Mars yet did not know what to say to him. However, Mars seemed to take the plunge and go on the offensive.

"You seem troubled. What's wrong?" Mars asked Uni in a surprisingly concerned tone, he had by now swung his body around to properly face the Candidate as he asked his question.

"Huh? T-Troubled? I-I-I'm fine, really, don't worry about me," Uni replied in a hurry, her fingers fidgeted around and her gaze was anywhere away from Mars' face - she could not look him in the eyes for some untold reason.

Mars sighed and got off the railing, walking up to Uni in a slow stride until he was standing in front of the Lastation Candidate, his gaze was sternly directed towards the Candidate, his eyes never blinking. His posture was straight, his arms were crossed over his chest and an unusual sense of seriousness was surrounding him. When Uni managed to turn her head around to face him she noticed that there were many stitches in the young man's clothing, both his shirt and jacket had been repaired to some extent by hand. Finally, Uni managed to look up into his blue eyes; she had a hard time trying to keep her gaze on him. When the Lastation Candidate thought that Mars was going to berate her for trying to keep whatever troubles she had to herself she saw the young man's right hand stretch out towards her, then something different happened: Mars began to rub the top of Uni's head, slightly messing up her hair so it stuck out more. The Candidate was caught off guard, so when she felt Mars' cold hand rub the top of her head in a surprisingly affectionate way she could not help but cry out in shock before her cheek were flushed with bright red.

Mars, either unaware of Uni's embarrassment or just simply not caring, continued to rub the Candidate's head gently. Surprisingly he appeared to be in a rather good mood, but despite what she could see Uni could tell that there was more to his modo than meets the eye, the scene she saw last night was a clear indicator to that. However, when Mars spoke he sounded like his normal self - clear of emotions and thought. "Hey, if you don't want to talk about it then that's alright, we all have to have some secrets I suppose," Mars finally said in response to Uni's tsundere answer.

Uni, who was now blushing uncontrollably, stuttered immensely and was unable to say anything without stuffing up her words, so when she finally managed to speak her words were all over the place. "W-W-Well, I-I-I-I'm n-not hiding anything, s-so there's no need to w-worry about me. So, um, c-can you stop petting me? I'm not a child so stop treating me like one."

"What? Oh, sorry about that, it just kinda happened," Mars apologised as he took his hand off Uni's head. This Mars was slightly different than the Mars the raven haired Candidate had gotten used to - mostly. There was just something off about him that Uni could not place, but as the young man leaned up against the balcony railing Uni saw a glimpse of the pain he was feeling as his expression turned from an emotionless look to an expression that just made the Candidate feel sad for him.

"A-Anyway, how are you feeling after… you know, last night?" Uni asked, wondering if she should be even asking him about it, worrying that he might remember something horrible from his past.

Mars sighed and gripped the railing tightly. "So, that's what you're worried about," he muttered absentmindedly, ignoring the fact that Uni could hear him. "Well, I guess I'm feeling a bit better than before, but one cannot fully recover from they have experienced years ago, both mentally and physically."

"Um, were you by chance tortu-" Uni was about to ask when Mars cut her off.

"I don't want to talk about it, Uni," he interrupted in a firm and serious tone, almost frightening the CPU Candidate. He then sighed and looked rather apologetically towards Uni. "Sorry about that, I just don't like talking about anything related to my past is all."

"But you did have to talk to Histoire about it, right?" Uni asked with curiosity. The response she received was a half-hearted shrug. It was true that Mars had to speak about a small aspect of his past, namely the pain he went through, but it was not much and it left the Planeptunian Oracle with many large gaps to fill with only just guesses. Uni, however, decided to keep discussing it. "What did you tell her?"

"Patient confidentiality. Sorry, Uni, but I cannot tell you." He then cheekily tapped the side of his nose with his right index finger, making it obvious that the young man was, in other words, a complete and utter cheeky asshole.

"Idiot. Still, at least you're being sincere about it," Uni mumbled, her glance now away from the young man. Mars chuckled in a monotone way as he turned around and stared at the city around him, amused with Uni's tsundere nature. But, as soon as he looked downwards the young man grimaced and narrowed his eyes; he seemed suspicious about something. Uni walked up next to the young man and looked at him. "What's wrong, Mars? You look kinda tense."

"We're being watched," Mars replied in a tense voice, his gaze remained fixed to the ground low below them. When Uni looked downwards she saw two humanoid specks looking up at them from the ground level, the two humanoid specks soon disappeared into the Basilicom, entering the first level of the Basilicom and walked towards the elevator, although Mars and Uni did not see them do that. However, the young man did not seem to like it. "Just who the hell are those two, and why were they looking up at us, or more specifically me?"

Uni rubbed her chin thoughtfully, wondering who would be up this early in the morning - despite it being not that early to some. Eventually the Candidate had an idea as a light bulb flickered on inside her mind. "Maybe, just maybe… I guess Neptune must have told them last night about it."

Mars looked over at Uni, confused as to what she was mumbling about. "Huh? Told them? Who's 'them'?"

The Lastation Candidate paid no heed to the young man, instead she was now looking back inside the living room and the kitchen, her gaze was finally directed towards the hallway that led out towards the elevator. To the young man it appeared that Uni was waiting for something, or someone, to appear. After a minute of supposedly waiting for whatever or whoever was going to appear out of nowhere Uni walked back inside the living room, she looked back at Mars and beckoned for him to follow her inside. With a shrug Mars followed the Candidate back inside the Basilicom and sat down on the couch, one leg was crossed over the other and his arms were resting behind his head; Uni was talking to Nepgear about the shopping list but Mars quickly tuned out of it after a couple of minutes. It was a short while before he heard the sounds of footsteps resonate from the hallway, the young man turned his head around and caught sight of two young women walk through the doorframe and enter the living room, both glanced around before laying their eyes upon Mars, to which they then smiled and walked up to him.

"Hey there, how are you holding up?" one of them asked Mars. She had long light brown hair with bangs covering parts of her forehead, emerald green eyes and fair skin, a leafy green hair piece was tired around a small ponytail that stuck out the left side of her head. She was wearing a black, tank top and short-short style one piece with silver detailing and a belt around her waist, this was all worn underneath a dark blue, oversized jacket with black, silver, and white detailing which also to be worn open, a bunch of cell phones were attached to the coat.

She had waved a 'hello' towards the young man, who had received it with a nod. "I'm fine, if that's what you're asking," Mars replied indifferently as he sat up straight, his arms now resting by his sides. For some reason he thought he recognised her from somewhere.

The other young woman appeared to be the more cheerful of the two. Her hair was a light creamy pink color with long and curls along the edges worn with a black headband with a C patched on the side, her eyes matched her hair color. She wore a tan-white wool styled tank top with big neck, unattached sleeves and matching styled boots with small ribbons/fuzzy balls at the top. She was also wearing a red plaid skirt, a black choker with a small heart on it, black-brown stockings with light pink heart cut frills and a black hip purse, and heart shaped buttons. One other noticeable feature was the difference in chest size between the two of them; the brown haired woman had a flat chest while the creamy pink haired woman had a rather large bust. She beamed a bright and cheerful smile at Mars, to which he also responded with a nod.

The young man did not know their names, but just as he was about to ask them their names he was saved from doing so by Nepgear, who called out to them. "Hi there, IF and Compa. What are you doing here this early? I thought you two would still be in bed at around this time," Nepgear asked the two of them.

"Neptune texted us last night that this guy was up, so we thought we would come over before work to say hello," IF replied, walking up to Nepgear with one of her cell phones, showing the Planeptunian Candidate the text message.

"Oh, so that's what she was doing before she went to bed," Nepgear muttered as she stared at the pixelated words. "Well thank you for coming over. I'm afraid you missed breakfast and there isn't anything left in the fridge or cupboards aside from Nepsi that I can offer you, sorry."

"That's alright, we weren't going to spend too long here. After all, we do have work to do, plus I doubt that Noire would want to stay here any longer," IF remarked. She then pointed a thumb back behind her. "Compa and I walked past Histoire's office and we heard Noire talking to someone on a phone or on the video chat messages on the computer, I guess it must have been Kei she was talking to, probably had something to do with Lastation."

"Yeah, that sounds like Noire," Uni commented with a deep sigh.

Mars shook his head in disbelief, mentally berating Noire for worrying about her nation while she was away from it; Kei was able to handle the affairs of a nation on her own the young man reasoned. Still, anything could have happened for the last four days, or was it five? Mars did not really know, he had lost count. Nonetheless, Kei was a capable person and the patron tsundere Goddess of Lastation did not need to worry about it. However, Mars' thoughts were interrupted by the creamy pink haired woman, she was leaning downwards and smiling at him with her arms behind her back and with her legs together; she seemed too cheerful to the young man, but he had seen other things that were even weirder than that. Mars decided to ask Compa a question to put aside a few thoughts of his.

"Um, hello," Mars said before asking. "Why are you smiling at me? Did I do something funny or something?"

Compa leaned back upwards and straightened her back before waving a hand dismissively. "Huh? Oh, no, not at all. I'm just glad to see you up and about, you were out cold for three days straight."

"Did Neptune tell you and that IF person about that?"

Compa nodded. "Yep, it was last night though so we decided it was better to see how you were going during the next day, so here we are."

Mars nodded slowly, taking it all in a slow and steady pace. "Alrighty then, whatever you say. Now that I think about it, you and IF seem to know me to some extent, why is that?" He raised an eyebrow and stared suspiciously at Compa, making her feel a little bit uncomfortable.

Despite the suspicious and glaring stare, which felt as if it burned her very soul, she was prepared to answer his question. "Well, when you were rendered unconscious and brought back to the Basilicom I was asked to help look over you since I happened to be there sometime after you, Ge-Ge and Uni left. I made sure you were stable, which you were despite some unusual results, and I recommended that you should remain in bed until you regained consciousness."

The young man tilted his head quizzically. "Huh? You looked over me? Unusual results? What do you mean? Are you some sort of nurse or something?"

Compa chuckled as she sat down next to Mars, making herself comfortable on the couch as she straightened her dress. "Well technically I'm a nurse-in-training, but I have sufficient knowledge in medical training so when I was in the Basilicom and you were brought in I was asked to make sure you were alright, fortunately you were but your heartbeat was quite low. Aside from all that you were in a stable condition, although I was rather surprised when I was told about the event."

"I'm sure you were. Look, just don't go telling anything about me to other people, I've already got enough trouble on my hands without the people of Planeptune trying to butt in into my personal life. Got it?" Mars requested, hoping that Compa would also not ask any personal questions concerning his life, scars and his low heartbeat - he would not have been able to answer any heartbeat related questions anyway. But just to make sure Mars voiced his concerns. "Hey, Compa, I would appreciate it if you don't ask any questions that concern my health."

Compa looked quizzically at the young man. "Huh? Why's that? I'm a nurse, well, a nurse-in-training, so it's my job to look out for health problems."

"Yeah I get that, but I just don't like talking about myself. I'd appreciate it if you don't ask any questions, understood?"

Compa scratched her chin thoughtfully as she processed Mars' word through her mind, eventually she beamed a bright smile and nodded her head. "Alright then, since you asked nicely I won't ask you any health related question or anything too personal."

Mars sighed with relief as eh stretched out his arms and legs before slouching back into the couch, it was then that Uni, Nepgear and IF approached them. The brown haired girl sat on the couch next to Compa, but her gaze, which was a mixed look between confusement and wonder, was directed towards the young man. As Uni and Nepgear sat down on the nearby chairs after dragging them over Mars narrowed his eyes at IF, finding it suspicious that he had seen her or someone like her before. IF, who looked just as puzzled, made the first move. "I've seen you somewhere before, haven't I?" IF asked curiously.

"Funny, I was just about to ask the same thing to you," Mars responded, glaring suspiciously. "Where have I seen you before? I remember something about that leafy ornament in your hair, but aside from that I don't really remember anything."

Uni, who appeared rather confused and was becoming suspicious of what was going on. "Hold on a moment, you two know each other?" Uni asked, flabbergasted that they knew each other, only slightly.

IF shrugged as her gaze fell upon the Lastation Candidate. "I guess so, though I doubt we actually know each other well enough to warrant your suspicion. Now that I think about it, I think we might have bumped into each other in Lowee around… um, a year or a year and a half ago when I was travelling around up north." Her gaze had now turned back towards Mars, wondering if he remembered their brief meeting in Lowee.

Sure enough he did, only barely however. "Yeah, I remember it now, you were that brown haired woman who was doing a few quests in Lowee City just to keep yourself occupied. Didn't we bump into each other during one of those quests when you caused an avalanche?"

"I'm pretty sure that was you who caused that avalanche, you barely even got most of the monsters," IF responded with disapproval in her tone, ignoring the sheepish look on Mars' face. "Anyway, you disappeared a day afterwards, I often did wonder what happened to you. Well, I guess it's good to see you again, Mars. Heh, Mars, what an odd name."

The young man did not seem to be fazed with people saying his chosen name was odd, but he had a retort of his own. "IF is an even odder name. I mean seriously, who in their right mind would name their child after two letters from the alphabet?"

IF appeared to be rather surprised with Mars' retort, she stuttered her words for a moment before glaring at the young man, glancing in a different direction. "Whatever, just shut up."

"Meh, I've had worse threats used against me," Mars said as he shrugged his shoulders, listening to Compa, Nepgear and Uni chuckle and laugh at the exchange of words between im and IF. It was then that Mars noticed the unopened bottle of Nepsi in Uni's left hand. "Oooh, a bottle of Nepsi, interesting."

Uni looked down at her left hand and nodded before returning her glance towards Mars, this time she looked a little embarrassed. "Yeah, it's Nepsi. Um… y-you c-can have it if you want. I-I-It isn't like I got it for you or anything to thank you for breakfast or because it was just the last one left, s-so don't get any funny ideas!"

Mars sighed as he got off the couch and grabbed the Nepsi bottle, his hand ran across Uni's fingers which resulted in her dropping the bottle as she gasped. When the young man took a firm hold on the bottle he gave Uni a questioning look before shrugging and returning to his spot on the couch. The Lastation Candidate, meanwhile, mentally slapped herself for losing control of her muscles, her cheeks glowed red and her gaze fell away from everybody in the room. Mars, however, was going to throw fuel on the fire. "Sheesh, do you have to be such a tsundere?" the young man asked as he opened the Nepsi bottle.

This, of course, stirred Uni's tsundere persona up into a fit of anger that everybody was used to. "I am not a tsundere! I'm just… I'm just… grrrr! Why don't you just shut up and drink that fizzy drink already?!"

"Whatever." After the young man took a large swig out of the Nepsi bottle, drinking nearly half of it in one go, he sighed with pleasure and heard the sounds of impatient footsteps echoing out from the hallway. The young glanced around towards the hallway as the sounds of the footsteps came closer, to his surprise it appeared that the rest of the group was unaware about whoever was approaching while they were talking amongst themselves. Soon enough the rest of the group heard the hurried footsteps and looked towards the hallway, after a couple of seconds Noire came bustling into the living room and was followed by Histoire.

The patron CPU of Lastation looked over towards the group and saw all of them together, much to her relief, especially when she saw Uni and Mars. "Good, at least this means I won't have to go looking for you now. Come on you two, we're heading back to Lastation," Noire informed the two of them, walking past the group and towards the balcony before stopping by the glass door that led outside.

"Huh? Already? But Mars was just getting to know Compa and IF more," Uni said to her older sister, pointing over at Mars, Compa and IF to prove her point.

"That doesn't matter, he has all the time in the world to get better acquainted with them. We are going home, now," Noire refuted, crossing her arms as a serious look formed all over her face.

"Why though? What's the rush?" Mars asked, not caring if he stayed in Planeptune for a while longer. "Planeptune isn't all that bad you know, plus if you're worried about Lastation then there is no need to worry about it, Kei can look after your beloved nation while you are still here for a while longer. Is there something wrong with your nation or something?"

Noire shook her head, yet a worried look remained on her face. "No, not yet anyway. Still, I don't want to leave all of the work with Kei, I have to get back into it and do some work since we've been out of Lastation for over half a week. Also our shares have started to drop slightly so I need to get them back up."

"Couldn't Mars and I deal with the share loss instead?" Uni suggested. Mars, however, did not seem to care about the suggestion though.

The raven haired goddess shook her head. "No, I can handle it by myself. You two barely get enough shares for Lastation anyway." At that point Uni appeared to be disappointed and rather depressed, her gaze fell to the ground and she began to mumble sadly to herself, although Noire missed it while everybody else in the room paid some attention to it, especially Mars. Noire was not yet finished though. "Besides, something odd happened while we were stuck here. The orphanage in Lastation just closed down after all of the orphans were taken by some guy to a new home, but they went missing after a while. What's odd is that this also happened in Leanbox a couple of months back."

After hearing the small piece of new Mars seemed rather suspicious, he furrowed his brows and crossed his arms, humming quietly to himself before speaking. "Well, even I have to admit that what you just said sounds too weird, but that could be just a normal thing as well. Maybe he just took them to another country or something to raise?"

Noire shrugged her shoulders. "I guess that might be the case, yet it's better to be safe than sorry. Anyway, let's get out of here before Neptune wakes up, I don't want to be held up from doing any work because of her."

IF, Compa and Uni chuckled as they stood up and followed Noire out ot the balcony, Mars was about to follow them until he was interrupted by Histoire. "Mars, may I speak to you for a moment please?" the tome fairy asked the young man.

"Um, sure, I guess so. What do you want to talk about?" Mars responded as he stopped walking and turned around to face the Oracle of Planeptune.

"After much research over the last few days while you were unconscious Akane and I discovered the source of your power. It's called an Anti-Crystal. Have you heard of it before and what it does?" The honest shake of Mars' head was a good enough reply. "Well, an Anti-Crystal is the exact opposite of Share Energy, in fact it harms anything that is powered by it, that is why Uni felt powerless and exhausted when you touched her with your power activated; if a CPU is exposed to too much Anti-Energy then they will die. How you were given such a deadly and corrupting power is beyond me, but I will refrain from asking. Aside from all that there is not much else that I can tell you I'm afraid. Do you want me to tell the others about this?"

Mars thought about it for a moment, mulling over it with great intent before deciding on an answer. "Yes, I think it's best that you tell them it, but only if you believe it is necessary. But let me tell Uni instead, I think she would appreciate it if I told her about it instead of you or anyone else."

Histoire seemed to agree with this and nodded in agreement. "Yes, I think she would greatly appreciate that. And don't worry about her feeling put off towards you once you tell her the source of your power, she really cares about you. You seem to care for her too, don't you?"

The young man shrugged his shoulders. "I guess so, in my own way of course. Just don't get any funny ideas from that."

The blonde Oracle chuckled, clearly amused with Mars. "Sounds like Uni has been influencing you with her tsundere nature, soon you will be turning into one as well." The unamused look she received from Mars caused her to smile and chuckle once again. As the young man left the Oracle to grap the last of his possessions - namely his weapons and other clothes - before going outside to say goodbye to Nepgear, IF and Compa, leaving for Lastation with Uni carrying him all along the way, Histoire watched them as the group parted ways for the day. _Goodbye, Mars, Noire and Uni. Good luck, you will need it if those War Gods return in the near future._ Histoire thought as the Lastation group left, flying into the sky towards their destination: home.

* * *

 **A/N: I did say that it would be at least two weeks until I published the next chapter, but I got it done a little earlier than I said I would. Booya! Surprised with Mars and IF actually knowing each other slightly? Who can say what will come from this. However, there might be a slight change in the updates due to me being back with my studies, and RL has to come first, but I am hoping to keep updating this story every few weeks whenever possible, so stay tuned for that. As always, leave suggestions or any sort of comment if you so wish and have a good day.**


	18. Project Ares

**Chapter 17: Project Ares**

Away from the bustling cities and towns of the four nations of Gamindustri there was some sort of building complex, cut off from the world in an unknown corner of the world, away from the prying eyes of the goddesses and the Oracles. The long, dark halls of the laboratory-like facility were barely lit, shadows crept all over the place in the darkest of corners, old lights flickered on and off, the sounds of heavy booted footsteps echoed down the empty hallways. The heavy footsteps walked down the dark hallways of the facility, roaming from area to area, from cell to cell, to room to room. The footsteps belonged to padded SWAT armoured guards who patrolled the hallways and corridors of the laboratory-like facility, watching over the War Gods who were in training sessions or happened to be wandering out and about. Bulletproof glass visors covered their faces, shielding the grim and serious expression underneath. Each one of them was armed with a riot shield, a pistol, a shock baton and a belt full of smoke grenades.

Not all of the facility was like this however, only at least a quarter of the facility appeared to be in a state of decay, the rest of the laboratory-like facility was in a much more better state than the rest of the place. The facility was filled with all manner of rooms ranging from offices, laboratories, storage rooms, bedrooms, guard rooms, gaming rooms, prison cells, an oversized furnace and, most disturbingly of all, what looked like a torture room or two - they were tucked away with the prison cells and the furnace in the rundown area of the facility. The rundown area, commonly knowns as the 'Dark Quarter' by most of the guards, scientists and other residents of the facility, was not as empty as people thought it was, otherwise there would be no need for guards in the first place. The prison cells in the Dark Quarter were filled with people wearing orange clothing, all had grim looks on their face and their fists were clenched, looks of bloodlust and utter rage filled their expressions as they stared at either the stone walls or the tough steel bars, glaring viciously at the guards who roamed passed.

The 'prisoners' were stationed in separate cells, each of the stone and concrete cells were placed right next to one another, each cell housed a small room with a bed, wardrobe and a chair, a small restroom was out of view from the cameras and to some of the shortsighted guards. Conditions in the prison cells appeared to be horrendous, at least some of them looked to be in terrible shape due to the blood that was splattered all over the concrete floors and the beds, both dried and mildly fresh. There were at least four dozen prison cells and around half of them were occupied, which left the other half empty, and only eight of the empty cells had any blood in them. The guards always feared what the people in the cells would do if they ever managed to break out, after all, they had heard of the tale about a certain Subject 13 and the fall of Project Mars.

Nearby the sounds of muffled yelling and cursing could be heard, the guards and 'prisoners' could hear it but they cared little about it, such a thing was by now a normal occurrence, although a few of the inmates looked in the general direction of the sounds with a confused and highly worried look upon their faces. To everyone in the Dark Quarter it seemed that they were living and working in Hell itself. Meanwhile in a room further down the complex in the Dark Quarter where the various noises were coming from there was a commotion occurring inside the room, not only was there the sounds of yelling and cursing but it also sounded as if there was electricity, fire, shattering bones and whips. Guards who passed on by winced as they listened uncontrollably to the loud and painful sounds of whatever was going on behind the tightly sealed steel door; no one was brave enough to see what was going on, besides, none of them wanted to know what was actually going on behind the door.

It was a total and complete utter mess inside. Inside the room there were three people, but only one of them was not tied up in some sort of way, the other two were separated from each other physically. One of the two was tied up, or more accurately chained up, to the stone wall by the wrists, neck and ankles, his back was up against the wall while his wrists were chained above his head, he was forced to stand up and be the practice dummy for a very sadistic yet calm man who stood before him. The last of the two was in a more uncomfortable position in the room due to her being strapped to several metal poles with wires attached to them; her wrists were chained to two large metal poles along with her ankles, she was suspended in the air and her back was to the wall. All around the room there was various amounts of steel tables covered in many different types of tools ranging from knives, whips, an electrical rod, hot steel pokers and even a pair of steel brass knuckles; most were covered in blood. There was even a lever connected to a small machine that was built onto the wall that crackled with electricity.

The young man who was chained to the wall was Ares, and he was in pain. His shirt had been ripped off to reveal his bare chest, his knuckles and hands were red due to how hard his clenching was, his remaining clothes as well as his upper body and face were splattered with his own blood, his expression was filled with rage and pain. A red mist, which had surrounded his upper body for a while, was now disappearing, leaving mended flesh and bone once more. Ares spat at the person before him, who turned around with an electric rode in his right hand. "Oh my, that was not polite at all," the sadistic man said in a tone that was just a bit too calm. "It looks as if you still have much, much more to learn, Ares."

"Go fuck yourself!" the young War God responded harshly. His outburst was met with a fierce blow to the left side of his face with the sadistic man's booted right foot, then came the painful jolt of electricity from the rod as it jabbed up against his chest, resulting in a pained yelling sound from the young man.

The sadistic man grinned malevolently as he pushed the electrical rod right into Ares' chest, piercing him through the right lung, watching gleefully as blood oozed down the flesh. "Oh come on and brighten up already, it isn't as bad as before with the hot poker," the man chuckled. "I thought I killed you with that, but then I remembered that you were immortal, like the rest of us. More fun for me."

The sadistic man had spiky, light orange coloured hair that wavered around whenever there a gust of air blew through the ventilation pipes and out into the room, his eyes were bright brown and whenever he grinned his teeth would be unusually sharp, adding to the deadly and sadistic aura that flowed from him. He wore a now bloodied black jacket with a hood, a bloodied dark grey shirt with a yellow lightning bolt logo on it, a pair of camo-coloured pants, black steel cap boots with small, steel spikes covered in blood above the toes where the steel was and a brown belt was worn around his waist. The man's left hand was resting on the steel table next to him, his right hand was holding the electrical rod which crackled with energy, his eyes were narrowed and glaring directly at the chained Ares. The sadistic man was annoyed, that was a given. But his rage-filled, sadistic torture session was soon disrupted by the pleas of the woman who was strapped between the metal poles.

"Laran! Stop this madness!" the woman, Enyo, cried out to her and Ares' torturer. Her eyes had tears flowing from them, parts of her hair were sticking up and her clothes looked like they had been scorched with electricity. "I know that we failed miserably and that we revealed our power to the enemy, but we were very close to capturing Subject 13. If you could just let us-"

"Oh shut the hell up already you damn whore!" Laran yelled, his frustration overloading his senses as he strolled furiously towards the machine, fiddled with a few switches, smacked a few dials which read 800 volts, and then pulled the lever. The machine crackled with energy as electricity ran through the wires, up along the poles, through the chains and into Enyo.

What happened next was expected and utterly cruel. Enyo lit up like a light as electricity passed through her body, her screams of pain were muffled by just how much electricity was flowing through her, to Enyo it felt as if her brain was going to explode along with the rest of her nerves and organs. Laran, however, was not yet done with showing the War Goddess the rest of his sadistic and cruel tendencies. He increased the flow of electricity to almost double the original amount, causing Enyo to let out a loud and pained scream as her eyes shot wide open, her fists clenched and her head facing upwards. Ares could only watch in horror as his childhood friend shook around in her bounds violently, her eyes and body lighting up blood red with Anti-Energy, but it was not enough. The blonde, shapeshifting War Goddess grew limp as her energy wavered away, her eyes closed and her limbs lost all signs of life, her muscles were unresponsive as she slouched forward, her hair covering most of her face. Enyo had either lost consciousness or was dead.

"Enyo!" Ares yelled in anger, his eyes and body glowing with Anti-Energy as his rage continued to grow to new extremes. He then watched as Laran turned off the electrifying machine, walk over to Enyo's limp body and poke her left cheek, watching her face sway to the right.

Laran, not content with it, grasped a firm hold under Enyo's chin and lifted her face up, me brushed aside the young woman's hair and stared sternly at her face, forcefully opening her eyes to look at them. After a couple of seconds, despite it feeling as if it had been minutes if not hours to Ares, Laran grunted and released his hold on Enyo's chin. Suddenly the sadistic man pulled back his right arm and brought it against Enyo's face, his fist collided with her left cheek and nose, breaking the latter. He sniggered as he repeatedly punched his right fist against Enyo's face, taking immense pleasure from it all as his expression was full of malevolence, cruelty, hatred and joy; Laran laughed as he continuously brought his right fist against the shapeshifting woman's face, bloodying it while the Anti-Energy mist did it's best to heal Enyo's smashed up face. "Hah, this is more fun than I thought it would be," Laran chuckled. "Still, getting a pained response is much, much better than this though. Perhaps I should just wake her up… but it's time to have some more fun."

Ares could not take it any longer, he just could not; seeing Enyo be beaten up savagely by a sadistic man who brought fear upon everyone in the facility made him snap. The young, tortured man growled inhumanly, his body continued to brightly glow blood red as his fists clenched tightly, his rage building up. The Anti-Energy flowed onto the chains, they became encased in the blood red energy as the steel began to splinter and melt apart, setting Ares on the path to freedom. As Laran began to smash his fists against Enyo's limp body, relishing in the deed as his face pulled a twisted expression, the chains binding Ares finally melted away in a fiery display, which was soon followed by a bloodcurdling warcry by the young War God as he leapt back onto his feet and charged straight towards Laran with the intent to kill. His right fist, heavily encased in Anti-Energy, was aimed towards Laran's face; Ares was hoping to deliver a killing blow by either breaking his neck or just by smashing his face in. But not everything went exactly to plan as Ares had hoped for.

Laran heard the warcry that Ares bellowed before the young man could launch a decisive and killer blow, and the sadistic man was not impressed. He swiftly turned around on the spot, raised his left arm and swatted Ares across the face with enough force to send the young War God flying across the room and into the wall, leaving his body imprint embedded into the wall. Ares groaned painfully as his Anti-Energy began to dissipate, leaving behind a bloodied young man who was starting to lose consciousness. He looked up at Laran and spat out some blood onto the ground, then he noticed the blood red eyes with the black dotted pupils and the energy flowing around his body. "How… how is this possible? How are you a War God?" Ares asked, his voice starting to grow quiet.

Laran grinned wickedly, his right hand glowing dangerously. "Wouldn't you like to know? Well, I just am a War God, in fact I am the true Ares, not you. Luckily for you though I am feeling generous so you can keep the name, but I don't think you will be keeping it for much longer." The sadistic War God then began to pummel his fists into Ares' body and face, breaking bones, disrupting organs, spilling blood and causing excruciating pain.

After what seemed like a lifetime, even though it had only been several minutes, Ares had stopped resisting Laran's brutal attacks and had just accepted his fate. Just as the young War God's eyes began to close he saw Enyo, who was still chained to the metal poles, start to wake up. Ares sighed and finally closed his eyes as Laran smashed a fist against the young man's face, sending him into an unconscious state; the last thing he remembered was the groggy expression on Enyo's face which swiftly turned into a shock look as she cried out Ares' name. _I'm sorry, Enyo. I'm sorry for everything I put you through._ Ares thought. Then everything went dark.

Laran appeared disappointed as he grabbed a hold of Ares' head and pulled him out of the rubble, looked directly at his face. "Pah! Useless bastard," Laran grumbled as he threw Ares' limp body across the room in a fit of rage, much to the discomfort of Enyo as she became fully awake.

"Ares!" Enyo shouted, distraught at the punishment her childhood friend was going through. She turned her head around to face Laran, her eyes glowed with Anti-Energy as did her body, an enraged expression formed across her face. "You… I'll kill you!"

"I'd like to see you try!" Laran yelled back at Enyo. The raven then watched in horror as Laran pulled two knives out from his jacket and held them upside down, the grin on his face grew even more as he then charged at Enyo, his bloodlust now overtaking his senses. "Time to learn your place! I'll see you in hell!"

But before Laran could unleash his rage against Enyo any further and kill the unfortunate woman with his knives, something happened that stopped him in his tracks as the door opened. "Laran, that is enough. Stand down," a stern voice with an authoritative tone commanded as they stepped into the torture room with two guards closely following behind.

The sadistic War God looked over at the owner of the stern voice and stared at them with mixed feeling bubbling all of his expression, he then sighed and hid his knives once more inside the pockets of his jacket. "Very well then, sir," Laran said as he stood back from Enyo.

The person who stepped through the doorway into the torture chamber nodded to one of the guards and pointed towards Ares, the guard got what the person was saying and walked over to the young man, he picked Ares up and slung him over his left shoulder before returning. The stern-voiced person had white hair that flowed down his neck, a ruffled white beard and brown eyes that pierced through the souls of all who stood nearby; he appeared to be old yet he seemed a little too fit for his age. He wore an unbuttoned white lab coat, a dark blue collared shirt, black pants and dark brown boots, they all seemed to be weathered with age and wearing. The man's stern expression put the fear of the goddesses into the guards and Enyo, it even made the sadistic and bloodthirsty Laran flinch. Then he spoke again. "Take Ares to his cell, and Enyo as well while you're at it," he ordered as he looked at the guards.

They nodded and began to do as they were instructed. The guard who was carrying Ares immediately made his way out of the room slowly, accidentally bashing the young man's head against the doorway on the way out into the dark hallway. The remaining guard strolled over towards the electric machine on the wall and took a short while to turn it off, mainly because she had no idea how to turn it off in the first place, but when the guard managed to do it she then walked over to Enyo and unhooked her from her chains, she then carried the War Goddess gently in two arms out into the hallway and down to where the cells were. This left the old-looking man and the sadistic War God by themselves. The old man was the first to initiate a conversation.

"Did you have fun, Laran?" the old man asked, his hands retreating to his coat's pockets.

Laran nodded without too much enthusiasm. "Yeah, I guess I did. They weren't as much fun as some of the others though, I wish they had put up more of a fight."

"It cannot be help, they were exhausted and not to mention that Enyo was shot across the head, the bullet just missed her brain."

"I wish it did hit her brain, then we would have had a chance to get rid of that damn Raven Clan once and for all." The sadistic War God then snarled in a serpent-like manner, his unnaturally sharp bare for the old man to see.

"Again, it could not be help, she does have her uses as a valuable scout after all," the old man responded. "Besides, there are more of the old clans out there that are much more of a threat than the Ravens, at least what is left of them anyway. None of the other clans are in a position to threaten Gamindustri as they once did in the past, the situation is much, much different than what it used to be centuries ago."

 _He's pretty wise, even for his age. Just how old is he really?_ Laran thought to himself as he looked back at the old man, then he decided to voice his thoughts. "Hey, how old are you anyway? You're a lot more knowledgeable and wiser about certain things than what you let me and the staff on about."

The old man raised an eyebrow and looked quizzically, then he began to chuckle, amused with Laran's presumptions. "My my, you are quite keen-sighted and intelligent, just as your mother described you. Although it would have been prudent of her to actually tell me about the sadistic side to you."

It was now Laran's turn to chuckle. "Well, I guess you could say that I inherited it from a certain someone." Then he winked at the old man with a toothy grin.

The old man laughed and patted Laran's right shoulder before firmly clamping his hand over it, a small smile appeared on his face. "That you have, my dear boy. Now then, let us head off to the conference room, shall we? We've got the head of the different divisions waiting for us there for that damnable meeting; we wouldn't need it if they actually listened to what I had to say. Bastards."

"Want me to take care of them for you?" Laran asked as the two of them stepped out of the torture room, closed the door behind them, locked it and began to walk down the darkly lit hallway to another part of the facility, badly fixed lights flickered off and on as they walked underneath them. As they passed by scientists and guards alike they ignored the obviously fearful looks that were given towards the splatters of blood upon Laran's jacket, shirt and pants.

The white haired old man shook his head. "No, I can handle it. Besides, I think it would be better of me to set an example to the divisions if I handled these idiots on my own."

"If you say so, Maximilian." Then came silence as the conversation died away. This lasted for a while as they two roamed through the rest of the Dark Quarter, passing by the occasional guard and scientist, they even passed a large laboratory where the screams of one of the cellmates could be heard along with the sound of electrical cutting and bone cracking. Laran pooped his head through the mildly open doorway to see one of the test subjects having a small electrical knife cut through his chest to get to his heart, nearby in a glass container was an Anti-Crystal. Laran ignored the loud and pained screams of the test subject and merely raised an eyebrow before leaving to catch up with the old man.

As soon as Laran had caught up with him the two of them arrived at a steel riveted sliding door with a small password terminal to the right of it, the old man swiftly tapped a few buttons and opened the sliding door, once he and Laran stepped through the doorway the door closed behind them, barring their way back into the Dark Quarter. The duo had now entered the part of the hidden facility that was well looked after and was under much less security; no test subject lived within the area, save for those who had transitioned from test subjects to War Gods and War Goddesses. The ear piercing sounds of machinery, both old and new, rang through the ventilated air alongside the footsteps of scientists, War Gods and few guards. Everyone who passed them battered the odd eye at Laran while simultaneously bowing their heads in respect to both the sadistic War God and the old man, both of whom were considered the two heads of Project Mars. Laran sucked it all in, enjoying the attention he gained, even if it was full of mixed feelings. The old man, also simply known as the Director, did not really much care for it, but people had insisted that it was a formality that was to be bestowed upon him anyway, so the old man had decided to let it happen and go with the flow.

After walking down the various bright and lively hallways the duo arrived in the living quarter section of the facility, more specifically they arrived at the glistening white door of the Director's room. The old man pulled out a keycard from one of the pockets of his pants, held it against a small touch-screen machine and stood back as the door opened to reveal the room inside. The Director and Laran stepped through as the door sealed behind them, the room lit up as the light turned on. The old man's room was surprisingly small considering that he was the leader of the Project; there was a bed tucked away in a corner of the room, a desk in another corner with a computer attached to several monitors, a bookshelf was carved into the wall closest to the bed and was filled to the brim with books, a wardrobe was near the door and was filled with clothes, stacked away underneath the bed were several cardboard boxes with books and documents filling them up - Laran had once searched through one of the cardboard boxes and began to read a few of the documents before he was caught by the Director. The walls were white as was the floor and the carpet, most of the furniture was also white; clearly the old man's favourite colour was white.

As the Director began to rummage through his draws in an attempt to find some documents Laran leaned up against the wall and sighed deeply, his boredom starting to get the best of him. The old man glanced over towards him and shook his head. "Bored already? And here I thought you were going to save that for the meeting."

"Oh don't worry, I'll still be bored shitless then, have no worries or doubts about that," Laran said with a wicked grin. As the sadistic War God watched the Director pull out several sheets of documents concerning Project Ares he walked over to have a closer look at them. "The hell are these about?"

"Matter that do not concern you, Laran," the old man replied sternly, making Laran back off towards the door. Before the War God could get further away he heard the Director call out to him with a question. "That spy of yours, Akane, I do not trust."

"Heh, I don't either, but she has her uses," Laran replied as he leaned up against the wall once more, his gaze directed towards the old man. "It's easy to not trust her. There's something off about her, I can smell it whenever I'm near that big breasted woman. Although, she's pretty hot, I wouldn't mind getting some of that booty."

"What a shamelessly lewd pervert you are," the white haired man said mockingly to the sadist as he approached Laran. "Anyway, aside from your perverted and unrealistic fantasies, we had better get to the meeting, no sense in keeping them waiting any longer than they already have."

Laran's grin widened as he nodded. "Very well then. Lead the way, I'll back you up, grandfather."

* * *

The two guards roamed down the hallway as carefully as they could, doing their best not to bump into the walls on either side of the hallway as they made their way towards the prison cells of the Dark Quarter, they did not want to further traumatise the two people they were ordered to throw into the cells out of pity. The two guards occasionally passed a few more guards and at times even a few War Gods and War Goddesses whose expression were mixed between bloodlust and anger, it made the guards fearful for their lives - not all of the facility's guards ever reported back to the barracks at the end of the day. They even had to stop a War God from trying to take Ares and Enyo away so they could be used for some experiments.

The guard who was carrying Ares over his shoulder looked over to his comrade, his expression told her of what he was thinking about. "So, how did you get wrapped up into this?" he asked her as they passed a corner and turned down it.

"The pay seemed pretty good, not to mention that I had nowhere else to turn to, so this place is just home to me," she replied, doing her best to ignore the pained groaning that emitted from Enyo. "Still, even if this place is home to me it's kinda… creepy. Know what I'm saying?"

The other guard nodded. "Yeah, I get that feeling everytime I walk down the hallways of the Dark Quarter." The mumbled groaning from Ares snapped them back to attention. "Crap, we better get these two back to their cells and resume our patrolling duties, or else the head of the security division will have our heads; I don't want to end up in some demented War God's room and be experimented on. In fact I think that's what happened to Jarvis a while back. Remember?"

The female guard nodded. "Aye, that I do. Just what do the brass think we are? Expendable? Pah! Without us this place would be nothing! If it wasn't for the pay then I would have left a long time ago. Come to think of it, where does Project Ares even get it's funding from? We're in a hidden facility, far from the notice of others, and somehow we manage to get money to keep this all going. Just how is that possible?"

The male guard shrugged. "I don't know, and a part of me doesn't want to know either. Hey, you heard the news about those new orphans they brought in?"

The female guard nodded and glanced over at her comrade. "Yes, I did. A pity they got roped into this mess." Finally they reached the prison cells and were met with an ominous silence alongside the glaring stares from the other 'prisoners' that accompanied them. The female guard did her best to ignore them and began to fiddle around her belt for the keys while doing her best to not drop Enyo. "Alright then, time to get you two back into separate cells."

"Wait," Enyo called out weakly to the guard. "Put me in with Ares, I need to look after him, please. He's still unconscious and anything could happen to him."

The guard looked down at the War Goddess and noticed the tears that were flowing down her face onto the concrete floor below, her expression was one full of sadness and pain. The guard hesitated for a moment, unsure about what to do with Enyo's request, but after a couple of seconds she gave in, sighed and nodded. "Alright then, fine. You can be in the same cell as Ares. Just no funny business while you're in there, got it?"

Enyo nodded slowly as the female guard unlocked Ares' cell, then the weakened War Goddess and the unconscious War God were placed upon the bed side-by-side, finally Enyo watched as the guards closed and locked the door before walking back down the hallway into the darkness. Once they were gone the blonde, dark green eyed woman adjusted herself on the bed so she was leaning up against the wall, she then propped Ares up beside her with his head on her lap, she rubbed her left hand through his hair affectionately, a small smile appearing on her face. "Sleep well, Ares, I'm here if you need me," she whispered to him, knowing that he could not hear her. _Please get better, I need you. I… I love you, Ares; I always have loved you, you damn power-hungry maniac. I know I won't be able to say it to you right now ,and maybe even in the future, but thinking it makes me feel better._

* * *

 **A/N: I had a bit of trouble with this one, was suffering from Writer's Block half the time when attempting to come up with some content. I felt as if I needed a chapter that just has the villains and is focused on them, don't have too many of those so far so it was good to write one up. Oh, and I am sorry for those who do not take well to extreme violence involving torture, I did warn you about it in the prologue. Speaking of that torture scene concerning Laran, I think I have just created something that could rival Iris Heart when she's having a bad day... oh dear. Anyway, if you have any suggestions, questions or requests then feel free to inform me about them and have a good day if possible.  
**


	19. Double Trouble

**Chapter 18: Double Trouble**

"Aim… steady… steady… fire!" Uni yelled as she looked down the scope of her rifle and fired a bullet at the 800 yard target before her, she looked away from her scope and gazed at the target to see the result, and it looked good from what the CPU Candidate could see through her binoculars. Uni had scored a bullseye, much to her own delight as her self-confidence grew. "Hell yeah! That's what I'm talking about! Alright then, Mars, it's your turn now."

The young, shaggy brown haired man sighed, stood up from where he was sitting, grabbed his sniper rifle and walked over to where Uni was standing. He groaned and stretched out his back, the bones cracked with relief and he sighed in response, much to Uni's distaste. The young man then rubbed his neck and looked over in the Candidate's direction with a questioning gaze. "Do I really have to do all of this crap?" he asked her. "I mean, I'm already pretty good at all of this so I see no reason as to why I have to go through this with you."

"Of course you have to, you need to get better at what you know. Just being 'good' at something isn't the best, you have to master it like your life depends on it," Uni explained to Mars, her blood pumping and her energy spiking. "Now then, shut up and aim at those targets. I want to see bullseyes. Now get to it already."

Mars grumbled to himself as he loaded his sniper rifle, wisely keeping his next choice of words to himself. _Just how the hell did Uni convince me to train with her? Must have happened early in the morning, I'm not much of a morning person._ Mars thought as aimed down the scope of his sniper rifle, his gaze firmly locked on the 200 yard target to his left. Seconds of silence passed as Mars aimed his sniper rifle at the target, the young man could hear his own slow and irregular heartbeat thumping through his mind as he steadied his arms. Then Mars pulled the trigger and fired a single round at the 200 yard target, the bullet failed to hit the bullseye but it did just get the area above it.

Uni did not seem too impressed with Mars' efforts to even gain a bullseye let alone his half assed attempt to even enjoy the training session. She shook her head and sighed in a grumpy tone. "Seriously, you could have done better than that, you're not even trying at all," the raven haired Candidate berated Mars, her eyes glaring at him.

In response to this Mars glared viciously at the CPU Candidate of Lastation, his grip on the sniper rifle tightened in anger as Uni continued to berate him, his eyes began to glow blood red with rage and his mouth formed a snarling look on his face. When Uni finally noticed how unamused Mars looked she backed off and began to shake nervously, much to the young man's displeasure and guilt. _Dammit, there it is again. Guilt. I hate this emotion, it always messes my mind up somehow. Still, I shouldn't hold it against Uni after all she has done for me._ Mars thought as he began to calm down, much to Uni's relief. "S-Sorry about that, just lost my nerve for a moment. It's nothing to worry about. Anyway, th-thanks bringing me out here for some training, I may not appear to appreciate it but I do," Mars informed Uni as apologetically as possible.

The tsundere Candidate of Lastation appeared a little flustered due to Mars' sudden anger outburst, but she appeared to regain her composure after a full minute of standing around with a worried expression, then she blushed i na bright red colour as she processed the young man's words through her mind as carefully as she could before answering in a stuttering tone. "S-S-Sure, a-alright then, if you s-say so. I-I-I only did this for your own good, n-nothing else besides that."

Mars sighed and shook his head, he had yet to get fully used to Uni's tsundere tendencies. "If you say so, Uni. Now then,I suppose you want to me to continue with the rest of this course?" he asked the Candidate.

Uni nodded, her gaze failing to direct itself in Mars' direction. "Y-Yeah, just get on with it already. This course is meant for you to hone in on your sharpshooter skills and aid with your accuracy; it's help me in the past so this should be good enough for you."

"Huh, I wondered where you were half of the time you weren't in the Basilicom or not doing any Guild quests. Is this the place you were in during those times?" Mars asked Uni. She nodded in response to his question, which prompted the young man to further question her about it. "Well that is good and all, but if I have to go through this with you can I at least have some moving targets? I think that would be prudent."

The raven haired Candidate looked over back at the target range and gazed at the targets for a short while, she then hummed silently and nodded. "Yeah, I think that would be a good idea, a moving target would be a lot better than some stationary ones. Alright then, I'll put in an order for some moving targets when we get back to the Basilicom, although I'm not sure how that could work out here."

Mars shrugged his shoulders. "We'll figure that out later. Anyway, I better get back to this before you start yelling at me again." Mars took aim with his sniper rifle and ignored the glaring look he received from Uni as he fired round after round at the targets, then a light breeze blew through the range. "Tch, if this breeze keeps up and stays around then the trajectory of my bullets are going to go haywire. Damn wind."

Mars and Uni were at a target practice range, but instead of the small practice range that was located inside one of the Lastation Basilicom's training rooms this one was located just outside the boundary of the capital city of Lastation. The range had several targets of all sizes located in different areas ranging from 100 yards to 800 yards; small wooden fences surrounded the area and a wooden door was behind them, outside were several acres of trees and bushes with little to no hills, one surprising thing about the area was the ruins of a farm cottage that was located several miles away to the north-west. It appeared that some if not most of the land that the firing range was on used to be farmland that was cultivated by people from a bygone age. However, that mattered little to the two gun users who were occupying the large target practice range.

The target practice range itself was built several years prior for the Lastation army to hone their skills with all manners of weapons, but mainly rifles to shotguns to sniper rifles, even anti-tank rifles were practices on the range. But those days were long gone, instead it had been renovated by the CPUs of Lastation for practicing their skills on, but Noire had scarcely ever been on the range due to how much she worked everyday, as well as other things which concerned computer games, visiting the other goddesses and merely trying to relax as best she could. Uni, on the other hand, had her reasons to be out and about on the range. The CPU Candidate of Lastation wanted to be better than anyone else, so she would head over to the practice range to hone her skills as best she could within a short amount of time; sometimes it was useful, other times it was not as helpful as she would have wanted it to be.

After returning to Lastation a few weeks ago from their several days at Planeptune Uni had begun to spend more and more time on the practice range, honing her skills to new extremes, at least she liked to think that anyway. The Lastation Candidate was starting to venture forth to the practice range more often than usual, while this was not much of a problem as both Noire and Kei knew where she was it was a slight problem for Mars who had no idea where she was whenever he needed her, and even that was a rarity - in fact the only times Mars interacted with Uni was whenever they bumped into each other in the hallway; met each other during breakfast, lunch and dinner; whenever the raven haired Candidate lent the young man one of her weekly gun magazines and whenever they happened to go on a mission together. Earlier during the morning Mar found Uni by his door, a determined look was on her face and she seemed to be in high spirits. After a quick 'good morning' the CPU Candidate quickly informed Mars about the practice range and invited him to come along, amidst blushing and stuttering. Mars decided it would be interesting to see where Uni would hang out some of the time during the few weeks after they returned to Lastation.

Mars was having a little bit of fun at least, even though it did not look like he was due to how his expressions were fixed. As the young, blue eyed man fired another bullet at a 700 yard target and yet again failed to gain a bullseye a thought occurred in his mind. _How many weeks has it been since I was attacked by that War God? Two weeks? Three weeks? Somewhere in between them? Yeah, I'm thinking it's somewhere in between them. Seems like whenever I'm in Lastation and near Uni I always lose track of time, I don't know if that's a good thing but it is something I can put up with._ Mars thought as he fired another round at the targets. _Still, when will that War God show up next? And what about his companion as well? Are there any more of them out there? It's just… it's just unreal. To think that that bastard Maximilian is still out there with undoubtedly another project similar to Project Mars. I have to find him, and I have to kill him, no matter the cost._

Uni, who was standing nearby with her rifle in her hands and was originally shooting at the targets, looked over at Mars and saw his expression slowly start to build up rage, the anger within him was starting to surface again alongside all the pain that he kept within himself and tried to seal off from the world. The raven haired Candidate placed her rifle on the ground and walked over to Mars, as she drew near to him she could see his teeth grinding against each other and his arms quivering, he appeared to be still and motionless. She stood next to him and reached out for the young man's shoulders, attempting to shake him out of his stupor before he had some sort of panic attack. But that only caused more problems for the two of them. As soon as Uni touched Mars the young man jumped back and flailed around violently as he cried out in surprise, Anti-Energy crackled around his body and shook Uni. The raven haired Candidate also cried out in shock and fell backwards onto the ground, landing with a loud thump as her backside collided with the grassy, flat ground; the Anti-Energy did not do much this time, much to her relief. She looked up at Mars with a glaring look in her eyes and an expression that expressed her anger.

The young, brown haired man bit his lower lip and looked away, a rush of feelings flooded his mind as he clenched his fists tightly, straining the muscles and bones. _Dammit, I'm feeling guilt again, this isn't good. I hate this feeling, it always makes me feel weird whenever something like this happens. Why did Uni have to give me this emotion? I was fine without it._ Mars thought as he closed his eyes and calmed himself down.

"What the hell, Mars?!" Uni yelled loudly at the young man. "What was that for? Why did you have to surprise me like that for crying out loud?! You could have disabled me with that outburst of energy!"

Mars, recovering from his sudden outburst of shock, looked over in Uni's direction and appeared to be a little saddened with what had just happened, he seemed a little guilty about it. "O-Oh, sorry about that," was all he could say after a moment of silence.

"Sorry? Is that all you can say? Sorry?!" Uni responded, her tone beginning to rise in annoyance. Uni continued to glare at Mars, her eyes narrowing in the young man's direction, her hands gripping the grass tightly.

The young man nodded his head. "Yeah, that's about it. I am sorry, Uni, I didn't mean to do that to you." Mars then sighed, threw down his sniper rifle, walked over to Uni and extended his right arm down towards her. "Need a hand there? You sure look like you need a bit of help there."

Uni looked at Mars' right hand and appeared to be a little surprised at first, it was not long afterwards that the raven haired CPU Candidate brushed aside the young man's hand and a determined look adorned her face. "I-I can handle this, I don't need your help," the Candidate of Lastation told him sternly as she pushed herself off the ground and back onto her feet. As Uni got back onto her feet she stumbled forward and fell into Mars' arms, she cried out in shock before grumbling to herself, then she realised what was happening. She looked up at Mars and blushed i na heavy tinge of red, her words stuttering. "Um, M-M-Mars? C-C-C-Can you let g-g-go of m-me?"

"Huh? Oh, r-right, sure thing," Mars replied as he hastily let his grip on Uni go, he stood back and gazed away towards the targets. "So, you're alright then?"

"Y-Yeah, I'm fine, th-thanks for asking," Uni responded, her fingers twitching and her gaze directed towards the ground. An awkward silence grew between the two of them as neither found anything good to say to one another, both seemed to be embarrassed about what had just happened between them.

 _What the hell am I getting embarrassed about? Come on, I've hugged Uni before and she's hugged me as well, so I shouldn't be getting like this at all. Dammit, I was fine with stuff like this before I was attacked by that War God and ended up having bad dreams for three days and nights straight; I wish Uni never saw me like that - a pathetic, weak cry baby of a man. That CPU Candidate must have done something to me if I'm acting up like this._ Mars thought as he managed to slowly turn his gaze back towards Uni, finally gathering himself to say something to her. "So, should we stay here for a bit longer or head back to the Basilicom? It's approaching lunchtime and I'm getting hungry."

The tsundere Candidate of Lastation managed to look back at Mars, her cheeks still blushing bright red. "Err, c-can we stay here a bit longer, please?" Uni asked nervously, her eyes glancing up at Mars' eyes while her fingers fidgeted together.

Mars raised an eyebrow for a moment before nodding. "Very well then, we can stay for a bit longer, I wouldn't mind it at all." The young man then bent down to the ground and picked up his sniper rifle before looking back at Uni, a cheerful look was in his eyes. "Hey, I've got an idea: whoever manages to get the most points and bullseyes wins the match, whoever gets the least amount has to make dinner for everyone in the Basilicom. A bullseye shall be 100 points, then the areas around them will be 75, 50, 25 and 0. You in?"

The raven haired CPU Candidate looked at Mars with a stunned expression for a moment before grinning with confidence. She picked up her rifle and stood near Mars, her self-confidence brimming brightly. "Heh, you're on. Be prepared to lose, 'cause I always win! You're going down, Mars, I promise you that."

The blue eyed man raised an eyebrow once more towards Uni's sudden outburst of pride, although after a few seconds of wondering about it he did not appeared to be surprised, in fact the young man seemed to be a lot more pleased with how the CPU Candidate appeared to be more happy and not as embarrassed or nervous as before. Mars gripped his sniper rifle tightly, stood in an aggressive position and readied his weapon for the challenge. "I hope you're ready, Uni, I'm better than what I let on. Let's go!"

The Lastation Candidate grinned, gripped her rifle tightly and aimed at the 50 yard target, within a few seconds she had already fired a bullet at the large, round target and managed to gain a bullseye. Uni rested her rifle on her right shoulder and looked over at Mars, a cocky expression adorned her face. "See that? That's only the beginning of what is going to happen," Uni boasted proudly. "Wait until you see what happens next, you're going to be blown away with all of the bullseyes that I'm going to get."

"Nice, just don't get cocky," Mars responded as he took aim and fired at another 50 yard target, gaining a bullseye and tying himself with Uni's score. He looked over at the Candidate and would have grinned if he could. "Your turn. Show me what you got."

"Watch and learn." The CPU Candidate aimed her rifle at the 100 yard target, waited for almost a minute and fired, gaining another bullseye. "Your turn, Mars. Get prepared to lose!"

The young man readied himself, aimed his sniper rifle at the second 100 yard target and fired, gaining a bullseye, much to his own pleasure. "There, another bullseye under my belt. You sure you want to go on with this? You should just quit while you have the chance."

"Oh shut up already!" Uni responded harshly as her pride took a hit.

For the next several minutes Mars and Uni aimed and fired at the various targets, each of them gained either bullseyes or gained points that were close to them, both contenders were fired up in a competitive flame, neither one of them giving up to the other. The young man and the CPU Candidate continued to fire at the targets, both boasting away as they gained more and more points, both becoming more cockier than before as their boasting reached new extremes. Mars did not really understand why this was the case, he was never really a boastful person and did not care for competitions, but something was just different about him and he knew it, although he had only suggested the competition in the first place because he thought it would cheer Uni up a bit. As Mars fired a round at the 700 yard target and just managed to get 75 points, adding up to his total amount. Mars was just in the lead with Uni coming in close behind, the end was drawing near.

"Just two more to go," Uni said as she aimed at the 800 yard target, making sure she got the trajectory right and with the right timing while keeping an eye on the wind. It was to be her final target and she needed to get a bullseye to get ahead in the lead and stay there. The Lastation Candidate pulled the trigger and fired a round at the final target, she then pulled out her binoculars and assessed her hit, sighing with relief when she saw the bullet hole in the bullseye area. "Hell yeah! Try and beat that, Mars."

The young man looked over at Uni and readied himself for the last shot, loading the last of his practice bullets into his sniper rifle and prepared himself for the final round. Mars took aim and was about to fire when a sudden strong gust of wind blew through the target range, blowing dirt and loose pieces of grass all over the place. But that was not the only thing that went flying. As Uni covered her eyes to protect her face from the flying objects her black dress lifted up and blew to her right, accidentally flashing her black bow adorned white panties. "What the hell? Where did this strong wind come from?" Uni asked, oblivious as to what was happening with her dress.

"I don't know, but it isn't letting up," Mars responded as he looked over towards the CPU Candidate, but when he saw her his blood froze and a heavy tinge of red appeared in his cheeks, his words stuttering. "Wh-Wh-Wha? P-Panties? Really? At a time like this?"

"What are you talking- GAH?! WH-WH-WHAT THE HELL?! S-STOP LOOKING ALREADY YOU IDIOT!" Uni yelled as she swiftly pulled down her dress to cover her panties, her face was completely red with embarrassment and her fingers twitched violently.

It was all just a bit too much for Mars, the young man turned away a bit too quickly and fired his sniper rifle as he fell to the ground while Uni slapped him across the face for looking at her. The bullet brushed across the upper edge of the target and continued onward until it collided with the back fence, ending it's path. As the young man sat up on the ground whilst recovering from the slap he saw Uni looking through the binoculars while also continuing to hold down her dress, she looked over towards him and blushed madly as she threw the binoculars at him for his use. After gazing at the last target for several seconds he sighed and looked up at Uni. "Does that count?" he asked her. "I don't think it does, you were cheating."

"How the hell was that cheating?! Pervert!" the tsundere Candidate of Lastation yelled back as she gripped her dress tightly, still highly embarrassed about what had just happened.

Mars glanced away from her and sighed. "Very well then, I concede. You win this time, Uni, but only because that wind helped you out there." As Mars stood up he did his best to ignore the rage that was building up in Uni's expression. "Well then, let's call it a day. Let's go to the supermarket and get some ingredients, I'm going to need them for tonight."

The CPU Candidate nodded bashfully as she grabbed her belongings and followed Mars out of the target range. "Alright then, let's go."

* * *

"Tch. Don't be all happy and joyful just because you won that match, I would have won if it hadn't been for that gust of wind that blew through the field," Mars grumbled to Uni as they walked side-by-side down the streets of Lastation, both being neither close nor far from each other as they strolled back towards the Lastation Basilicom, bags held in their hands.

"Well I would have won even if that damn wind hadn't blown through to.. To d-d-do th-that," Uni replied, her gaze looking away at another end of the street. "Pervert."

"I am not a pervert; I just happened to be there at the wrong time at the right place. Besides, I couldn't control the weather so don't go blaming me for it." Mars glanced away to avoid looking at Uni, his gaze soon fell upon the buildings and their windows situated to his right, his reflection looked back at him with the same stern look. _Huh, guess I'll need to shave and have a haircut at some point, I'm starting to look like a homeless person again. I wonder if Uni sees me like that? I know for certain that Noire does, not too sure about Kei though. Wait, since when did I ever care about something as meaningless as this? Must be because of how long I've been with Uni. Damn, this isn't normal for me._

Silence reigned over Uni and Mars as they neared the Lastation Basilicom, both did not know what to say to the other due to the awkwardness that followed after they briefly spoke about what happened on the range. Their conversations would usually end up with awkward silences, it was something that would always happen after they try to converse with one another after something odd, weird or embarrassing occurred sometime beforehand, was just something that they could not seem to avoid. Mars had addressed this problem with Kei around a week before, he spoke about whenever something that Uni would embarrassing or if Mars was asked about his past too many times they would always end their conversations with an awkward silence, it always irritated him at times or it would, more usually, just a bit awkward.

The silver haired Oracle of Lastation, with a small smile on her face, replied with: 'Don't worry about it, Mars, you are not the only one to have those awkward silences in the middle or at the end of conversations; It happens between her and Noire as well, not to mention Nepgear too. I would not worry about it if I were you, it is quite normal for her to be in an awkward silence with someone whom she is friends with. Think of it as an addition that must be put up with, it will always happen to those she cares about deeply'.

 _Hmm, it will always happen to those she cares about? Well, I've never seen it happen with anyone aside from Noire, Nepgear and even Kei at one time. So I guess Uni does care about me. Question is, do I care for her? I guess I do, it's hard to tell sometimes depending on how I am feeling during those times; I guess, no, I know that I care about her._ Mars thought as he and Uni turned down a street and appeared near the Basilicom, the two of them mildly tired from everything they had done earlier, both target practicing and shopping. As they stepped onto the path that led directly towards the entrance of the Basilicom Mars glanced over at Uni and noticed how calm she now appeared. "You alright there, Uni? Are you feeling more calmer than before?" Mars asked her.

Uni nodded as they arrived at the large entrance and stepped inside, closing the door behind her. "Yeah, I'm alright, Mars. Th-Thanks for asking," the raven haired Candidate replied. "Come on, let's get all of this ingredients to the kitchen for you to cook later."

Mars nodded before together the two of them entered the elevator and made their way up the higher levels of the Basilicom. Once they exited the elevator and made their way down the hallway towards the kitchen Uni stopped and looked to her left down another hallway, after a few seconds she looked back at Mars, who had by now stopped to look at her. "I'm going to check up on Noire and see how she's going, last I saw this morning she was rather busy and may need some help. You can deal with the rest of the shopping bags," the Candidate informed Mars, handing him the bags she was carrying before heading off down the hallway.

 _I might as well get ready for cooking dinner, even though it only the afternoon and evening is still several hours away. Maybe I should just get the ingredients ready and maybe do some taste testing. Should I could use some help with that? Nah, I won't need any help at all, I can handle this on my own._ Mars thought as he made his way through the kitchen doorway, that was when something unexpected happened. As soon as the young man pushed the mildly opened door fully open a large metal bucket fell onto his head, coating him in a whole bucketload of icey cold water. Under normal circumstances with actual 'normal' people the ice-cold water would have frozen the flow of blood and made them instantly catch a cold, but Mars was different, instead he appeared to be unfazed by it. The young man threw off the bucket and shook his hair around before looking towards his left where he heard sniggering sounds emitting from. "Alright you two, get out from behind those chairs," Mars commanded in a stern and aggressive tone.

To his surprise the figures who emerged appeared rather young and child-like girls, not to mention that they were shorter than him. The one to his right had long sandy brown hair, dark blue eyes and a cheeky grin plastered across her face; she was wearing a pastel pink winter coat over a plain gray and white overall dress, the coat had puffed sleeves and a frilled white center part with many golden buttons, a big light blue bow on the collar and six puffball placed around the jacket, the ends of the cuff had white fur lining and a big golden button. She wore a white and pink cap upon her head with a pink lined rectangle in the centre. The one to his left had shoulder length sandy brown hair, dark blue eyes and had a shy look on her face; she wore a pastel blue winter jacket over plain gray and white overall dress, the jacket had puffed sleeves and a frilled center part with many golden buttons, a collar with a big bow and six puffballs placed around the jacket. At the ends of the cuff is white fur lining and a big golden button. Her cap was very much like the other girls' except instead of a pink colour it had a blue colour scheme to it. It appeared that the two of them were sisters, and most likely twins.

"Hah! We got you good!" the pink clothed coloured girl cried out with excitement before looking back at her sister. "Isn't that right, Rom?"

The blue clothed coloured girl, Rom, nodded as she stood closely to her sister. "Uh huh. We sure did, Ram," she replied in a shy tone, she did not seem to be as open as the other one.

Mars did not seem too impressed with what they were talking about; his anger began to build up and he felt his Anti-Energy begin to flow through him strongly, the rage within him was going to start showing very soon if something did not calm him down. The young man flexed the muscles and bones in his hands, cracked his neck, straightened his back and glared at the two young girls, keeping his anger at bay. "Just who the hell are you two?" he asked the twins, hoping that by talking to them he might just figure out why they had played a prank on him.

"My name is Ram, and this is Rom, my twin sister. We're the CPU Candidates of Lowee, and the cutest around," Ram replied with a thumb up next to her face as she boasted about her and her sister's looks, causing Rom to and blush slightly as she gripped her sister's right arm tightly. Ram continued on with her answer though. "We're here to see if what Nepgear told us about you was right, so get angry already!"

The young man was rather stunned with what Ram had just requested, and he made no attempt to hide that fact. "You want to what? You want to see me be angry? Whatever for?"

"Nepgear told us about you and about some weird power you have, so me and Rom came here with our big sis to see what you can do. So come on already and get angry already, we want to see what you can do." Ram stared at him with wide eyes, expecting him to get angry at any moment so she and her twin sister Rom could see what Mars could do.

Mars looked at the two of them and sighed, shaking his head at their obliviousness to what his power was capable of. "Didn't Nepgear tell you what I was able of doing? I thought she would have done. Anyway, I've gotta go and get myself dried up, keep yourselves occupied with something else besides bothering me."

After the young man placed the mildly wet shopping bags onto the kitchen bench and returned back into the hallway to make his way to his room he felt a sudden pain around the back of his head as a large and heavy object collided with his head, it sent Mars colliding with the wall in front of him headfirst, he slide down the wall and fell to the ground. As Mars turned around he picked up a heavy book, it was the book that had been thrown at him around the back of his head. Once he had fully turned around he saw Ram grinning wildly while Rom could not help but snigger at the young man's suffering. "You're supposed to show us your power, you big dummy! C'mon already, just show us!" Ram said to the young man, her voice rising.

"Well screw you too, brat!" Mars yelled back at her, his eyes flashing blood red for a split second.

Ram appeared to be a little pleased with what was going on. "Yes, yes, let the hate flow through you," she said wickedly, rubbing her hands as she smiled brightly. "Come on now, show me and Rom what you can do. Just do it already would you, dummy? I'll throw more books at you if you don't."

That was when they heard the sound of footsteps running through the hallway nearby, it sounded as if there were two people running through the hallways of the Lastation Basilicom, not long afterwards Mars, Rom and Ram - who had now entered the hallway near where the young man was - all saw two figures running towards them. One of them was Uni, the other was a young-looking woman who appeared to be similar in appearances with both Rom and Ram. The woman had sandy brown hair, dark blue eyes and a serious expression upon her face; she was wearing a big white cap with light blue ruffles and a brown and gold under and center piece, an opened white jacket with powder blue markings, dark brown lining, and light colored brown fur, a white dress underneath it with dark brown lining and markings on it. Around her neck was a light blue choker with a single white stripe in the middle and blue badge in the centre, she also wore blue sandal-like shoes with a white ribbon around in her right leg resembling a bandage.

As soon as they neared the group the short, sandy brown haired woman's expression turned from a stern and expressionless look into a look that would curdle milk and freeze the souls of all those who were nearby, and it was directed towards Rom and Ram. "You damn brats! Get back here!" she yelled furiously. On closer inspection it turned out that both her's and Uni's clothes were soaking wet.

The twins, upon seeing who Mars believed to be their older sister, sniggered and ran away down the hallway to goddess knows where; the enraged woman followed swiftly after them, ignoring both Mars and Uni. As soon as they were out of eyesight Uni groaned and looked down at the young man as he began to get back onto his feet. "You alright there?" she asked him as he stumbled around for a few seconds whilst attempting to regain his balance.

"Y-Yeah, I'm fine, just a little shocked is all," Mars replied as she straightened himself up next to Uni. He looked at her and raised an eyebrow. "Well aren't you a risque person, being soaking wet and all? Sure you don't want to go away and get changed into something else?"

The raven haired Candidate glared at Mars and hit him across the head. "Shut up. I'm only like this because those two Loweean Candidates set up a bucket of ice-cold water above one of the doors nearby, and from the looks of it they got you too."

Mars nodded. "Yeah, they did. Apparently they wanted to get me angry so they could witness my power, foolish brats."

"Did they? Oh goddess, I knew something like this would happen. Dammit, Nepgear, why did you have to go and tell them?" Unu mumbled the last part quietly, but it still did not escape the notice of Mars' ears. Not long afterwards the Lastation Candidate returned her attention to the young man. "I think it's better if they explained it to you instead of just letting you guess things. Just wait a while though, it might take some time before those three are in a normal mood."

* * *

"I do apologise for what happened earlier," the eldest of the sandy brown haired trio apologised to Mars, bowing her head forward respectively before straightening herself in her chosen chair. "I think a proper introduction is in order. My name is Blanc, but you may also know me as White Heart, I rule the Land of White Serenity, Lowee. These two are Rom and Ram, respectively known as the White Sisters and CPU Candidates of Lowee. We're here because these two wanted to see you after what Nepgear told them, I had to come along so no harm would come to them, although now I wish I never went with them."

Ram, who was sitting over to Blanc's left, looked over at her older sister and grinned at her. "Oh come on, Blanc, it isn't all that bad. You got to say hello to Mars so it ain't all that bad now, is it?"

"That may be so, but you two brats just had to put up buckets of water all over the place and throw books around. I swear, some things never change. Bastards." Blanc muttered the last word quietly, yet not even that word escaped the notice of Mars, who raised an eyebrow with a hint of surprise in his expression.

Regardless of what Mars thought of Blanc, Rom and Ram - which he did not have much of an opinion off to be fair - he pushed his seat back, stood up and looked over at the group as he made his way back into the kitchen where water was boiling and fresh ingredients were displayed upon cutting boards. "Well regardless if you're here with your sisters to see me or to annoy Noire - which I hope you do by the way - I have some things to contend with, so do whatever you want to do," Mars said to the Loweean CPUs. The young man picked up a knife and began to cut up green beans upon the cutting board, precisely cutting them up into equal pieces.

Mars paid little to no attention to what was going on around after he re-entered the kitchen, but the young man knew that at some point he had lost track of time, although that bothered him little. Mars had decided to make an early dinner merely because all the ingredients, at least all the ingredients that had not been eaten by Rom and Ram, were on the kitchen bench and were practically begging to be used, at least that was how Mars put it. After what seemed like a long time, but in reality was only an hour and a half, the young man was interrupted by someone tapping him on his back, he turned around to see Blanc staring at him, her expressionless face was hard to read, although the young man had little need to wonder.

"Excuse me, sorry for interrupting you from your cooking duties, but I could not help but notice that strange marking on your upper left arm. What is it? A dragon?" Blanc inquired curiously, her gaze directed at the strange marking.

Mars looked down at his exposed arm - due to his sleeves being rolled up - and sighed. "I don't really know, Blanc, but I've just accepted it. Not sure why I have a dragon there in the first place, but I don't mind it. I think someone in Planeptune, some scientist or something, referred to it as a birthmark of sorts."

"Really? Interesting. You know, I've got a large library back at my Basilicom, if you're ever in Lowee and happen to be curious about that mark you can take a look at what the library has to offer, maybe you'll find something useful," Blanc said to Mars.

The young man nodded as he turned the heat down in the oven. "Very well then, I just might do that. Thanks, I suppose."

Blanc raised an eyebrow at the last remark, yet decided to not get into an argument for her own sake. She instead chose to change the topic. "Hey, have you met Thunder Tits yet?" she asked him, her disdain for 'Thunder Tits' was clearly shown as her expression began to grow into one full of malcontent.

"Huh? Thunder Tits? Never heard of someone with that name before," Mars replied as he attempted to figure out who that person could be. After a short while the image of a blonde, blue eyed voluptuous goddess with very, very large breasts which would bounce for no explicit reason came to mind. "Oh, you must be referring to Vert. Yeah, I met her, and the description matches her, kinda anyway. She made me her younger brother because I spent some time with her; still haven't gotten over the trauma of nearly suffocating in those tits of hers."

The Loweean Goddess glared at Mars and crossed her arms, her anger was not fully showing but her distaste was. "You like 'em big, don't you? YOu men are all the same, liking big breasts just because they stand out."

Mars shook his head. "No, that isn't the case for me. I honestly don't care about breast size, never given it much thought before. Besides, I have to put up with Uni transforming all the time during mission or whenever I messed up something and she wanted to take it out on me physically; so I've seen breasts of all sizes and frankly I could not care less about whether you're flat or have giant lumps of bouncy fat on you, makes no difference to me."

Blanc stared at Mars in silence for some time before saying something. "Pervert," was all she could come up with.

"Yeah, I get that a lot from the tsundere sisters, I don't need it from you. Now kindly shove off, I'm working. Wait 'till dinner is ready, I'm guessing that you and the younglings are staying around for it."

"Tch. Asshole," Blanc muttered as she made her way out of the kitchen and entered the hallway.

Just as soon as Blanc left Mars felt the scars on his body start to ache once again, he grunted in pain as he rubbed the scars, his breathing became ragged as he bent forward. Eventually the pain subsided, leaving a sweaty and ragged young man behind. He wiped the sweat off his forehead and sighed. _Damn, it's coming back again, and more regularly too. I haven't felt like this ever since I woke up from those bloody nightmares in Planeptune. I'm just glad no one saw me like in this state this time._ Mars thought as he began to recover slowly before resuming his cooking duties, but the feeling that something was just not right with him never went away.

* * *

"Wow, I never expected you to be a great cook, dummy," Ram congratulated Mars while also managing to insult him. "You should cook for us sometime, Blanc isn't a good cook you see."

Blanc looked over at her younger sister and glared at her, hissing between her clenched teeth before speaking. "Shut up! I'm not bad, I'm just… er, still learning is all."

It was now late in the evening and the group had just had dinner, and they enjoyed, even those people who had not expressed it such as Noire and Uni. Rom and Ram had asked for seconds and thirds before they were stopped before asking for a fourth serving, much to Blanc's relief. Now with full stomachs the slightly enlarged group stood in the CPU of Lastation's office, the Loweean CPUs were saying their farewells for the night before returning to their home in the cold north; Rom and Ram were carrying leftovers that Mars had given them, although he had done that because he was not hungry. Noire looked at Blanc and nodded a 'goodbye' to her. "Goodbye, Blanc, and don't come back here without telling me first, I wasn't prepared for today's visit," Noire said to Blanc with a disatisfied look upon her face.

"Oh shut it already, you tsundere queen," the short-tempered goddess responded with a wicked grin, causing the others to chuckle as Noire blushed madly, even Kei could not help but snigger at the tsundere CPU's expense. Before Blanc and her younger sisters walked away towards the opened, oversized glass door that led out onto the balcony the patron CPU of Lowee looked back at Mars, a small smile plastered on her face. "It has been… interesting meeting you, Mars. You're an interesting person."

"Interesting as in good or bad?" Mars asked with a raised eyebrow.

"We'll just have to wait and see," was Blanc's reply.

"Oh, I know, you should totally come over in a few days. There's a convention or something that's being held in Lowee City in a few days time, it has something to do with some boring books and some very cool toys! You should some on over, it'll be fun!" Ram interjected with an excited expression and tone.

"Uh huh, it'll be fun," Rom said with a nod. "All the toys are great, they were made by the Toymaker himself. He's even going to be in the convention this time. Can you please come over and play with us then? Please?"

Mars glanced away from the puppy dog eye look he was given and grumbled to himself for a moment, everyone was now looking at him sternly, especially Uni and Blanc. Eventually the young man caved in and sighed in defeat. "Alright then, I'll be there, I promise."

Rom continued to look at him, her puppy dog eye technique refusing to go away. "You promise?" the Candidate asked again, her tone getting wimpier than before. She smiled brightly when Mars nodded vigorously. "Yay! This is going to be fun."

As everyone in the office laughed at Mars, unable to contain their laughter any longer, the young man sighed to himself as he rubbed the coming aches hat began to flow through his scars. His expression was a little lighter than before though. _Well, what the hell? I might as well keep that promise. After all, it isn't as if something is going to go wrong there._ Mars thought to himself, sighing one last time that night.

* * *

 **A/N: Finally found a suitable chapter to introduce everyone's favourite team from Lowee, about damn time too I reckon. Things between Mars and Uni seem to be slowly on the rise, including some character development as well, at least I think so anyway, hard to tell with him. I have also got a bio on Mars on my profile now – he's the second main OC I have, just under the first one on my profile, it has a few things to be reconfigured later as well as a few guesses for people to think about. Also, guess the reference in today's chapter! See if you can guess it. Anyway, if you have any suggestions, questions or just about anything really then do feel free do tell me about it, it really helps me out, and have a good day if possible.**


	20. The Toymaker

**Chapter 19: The Toymaker**

"Wow, this whole event is larger than I thought it would be," Mars said with wonder as he stood amidst the crowd alongside Uni, Noire, Blanc, Rom and Ram. "Is it usually this large? I wouldn't think that such a convention would acquire such a large crowd."

Indeed it was huge. The group of CPUs and a prototype War God were standing in the middle of a large crowd that kept on moving all around the convention, gazing over each and every store, asking questions, buying new products and having a good time in general. The convention was being held in Lowee City Plaza, which was located around the centre of the city and right near the Basilicom. There were dozens upon dozens of stores, all manned by Loweean citizens who here looking to show off what they had made, written and in some cases even grown; from books to toys to clothes and all sorts of food it appeared as if everything was there. It was an exciting time for everyone who lived in Lowee City, even for those who lived outside the city perimeters in other towns and villages for they, too, made the journey to the capital to explore what they could. It only happened once a year and no one was going to miss out of it this time.

Blanc nodded. "It usually is, although most times these conventions are smaller. This year there are a lot more authors who are showing their latest books to the people of Lowee, not to mention all the latest games as well. I think the Toymaker is showing up later to display his latest toys for the children of this nation to gaze upon."

"Speaking of which, just who is this Toymaker that Rom and Ram keep rambling on about?" Noire asked as she and the others began to move through the crowd. "Is he supposed to be famous or something? If that's the case then I've never heard of him."

"Well, as far as I am aware he isn't famous, though who knows really. The Toymaker popped up several months back, I think eight or nine months to be exact, and released his first few toys for the younger people. Surprisingly he was rather successful and things just escalated well for him; even Rom and Ram adore his work for some reason. I don't know how the Toymaker does it, but he just makes people like him."

"What sort of toys does he make?" Uni asked as she quickly passed a passing person who almost bumped into her.

The Loweean CPU was about to answer when Ram answered the question for her, and rather enthusiastically too. "He makes all sorts of toys like oversized lizards on two legs, cars, trucks, motorbikes, wooden robots, action figures involving heroes out of books and even figures of the goddesses. The Toymaker just amazing with the amount of work he's put into making everything."

"So, what does he look like?" Mars asked as the group entered the snow-clad park where small groups of trees were spread all over the place, a small pond was nearby where children wearing jackets, beanies and snug pants were playing around, making snowmen and throwing snowballs at each other. From what the young man could see from Rom and Ram's expressions it looked as if they also wanted to play.

"I dunno, hardly anyone has seen the guy," Ram replied as she began to skip ahead with Rom tagging along behind her. "Ooooh, I think there's some candy over there. We'll see you guys later! Come on, Rom, we're going to get some candy!"

"Hey! Hold up!" Blanc demanded as both Rom and Ram began to skip ahead without the group, disappearing into the throng of people around them. The Loweean CPU growled and looked back at Mars, Uni and Noire. "I'll be back later with those two, even if I have to drag them by the ears. Why don't you three just wander around and see what the convention has to offer? It goes all day until evening so just go out there and enjoy yourselves." She then disappeared into the overly large group of people, speed walking past people in her attempt to catch up with her younger sisters.

After several seconds of standing around in silence Uni asked a question. "Are we going to see those three before the afternoon arrives?"

Noire shook her head. "Probably not knowing those three, I'm sure that they will find some ways of wasting their time until everything has to close and be packed away. It's a waste of our time as well come to think of it."

"If that was the case then why are you here?" Mars asked, raising an eyebrow suspiciously in the tsundere CPU's direction. "If it all of this was a waste of time then why be here in the first place? You were not even invited in the first place, if you remember."

The patron CPU of Lastation stuttered and blushed slightly as Mars stared her down, even Uni could not help but look at her older sister, questioning why she was with them in the first place if she did not even want to come to Lowee at all. Eventually Noire looked away sharply and growled. "Sh-Shut up, I'm only here to keep you all company and make sure that you, Mars, don't lose control over your power in case you get angry. Th-That's all there is to it."

Mars did not fully believe Noire's intentions and motives about her reasoning, but the young man did not give it much thought; after all, Noire always had a reason for something but it was certainly not a reason filled with malice, no matter what she said. "Well whatever, I don't care what your reason is, although that reason was pretty crap," Mars said as the three of them continued to walk along a cobblestone path.

"I-I-It's the truth! Why else would I be here then?!" Noire responded, yelling at the young man in a frustrated tone.

"Beats me, just stop being a tsundere all the time. It's getting old you know, people are starting to move away from it." Mars was annoying Noire on purpose and was enjoying every minute of it. His reason: she was just being annoying again, to him at least. This had been going on for a while now, even before they arrived in Lowee, even the day before.

Noire growled viciously at Mars and shook her fist in rage, her cheeks bright red and her teeth clenched tightly. Soon enough the senior Lastation CPU stormed away in a furious pace. "Tch. You're so annoying! Why did I even bother making you a citizen of Lastation in the first place? You're more of a Planeptunian than a Lastationite!"

As soon as Noire was out of sight Uni glanced at Mars with an annoyed look in her eyes. "Why do you have to keep annoying Noire?" Uni asked the young man. "Can't you tell that she's getting pissed off with your antics? Jeez, you've been hanging out with Neptune and Vert too much, haven't you? Sheesh, you are more of a Planeptunian than a Lastationite. Were you born in Planeptune?"

Mars shrugged. "I don't know, besides, I told you that I don't remember anything that far back. Maybe I was born in Planeptune, maybe I wasn't. Even if I was born in Planeptune how come I'm an asshole at times? Most if not nearly all of the people down there are friendly towards each other, even towards strangers; there's no way I could have been born there, otherwise I would be friendlier towards the lot of you."

The CPU Candidate of Lastation glanced away from Mars and directed her attention towards some of the stores to her left, her voice became almost quiet while her hands gripped her dress tightly. "You aren't much of an asshole, you can be friendly sometimes, and you mean it as well when that happens. You're a… n-n-nice person, Mars."

The young man, oblivious to what Uni was saying, looked at her with a confused expression. "Hmm? Did you say something, Uni?" he asked her. Mars had not been listening to the Candidate, which turned out to be a rather bad idea for the guilt that had taken up residence in his mind.

Uni began to grumble to herself as her gaze continued to look away from Mars, the grip on her dress tightened even more to the point where her knuckles were red, her teeth grinded together and she closed her eyes while her cheeks turned red. Eventually the raven haired tsundere Candidate of Lastation sighed depressingly and began to walk away into the crowd. "Whatever. I wasn't saying anything, idiot," Uni finally responded as she soon disappeared, leaving Mars by himself.

Not long after Uni had disappeared from sight did Mars finally understand what was going on. The young man growled to himself and slapped his own forehead, sighing to himself about his own social incompetence. _Uni and Noire are right, I am a complete and utter total idiot. I should have been listening to what Uni was saying, then maybe my guilt wouldn't be in overdrive like this. I hate this emotion, it's messing up my already fragile mind. Maybe I should go after Uni and apologise? Yeah, maybe I should do that. Wait a moment, since when did I ever apologise to anyone about anything? Damn it, Uni, what have you done to me?_

Mars groaned and began to walk into the crowd, determined to catch up with Uni and apologise, or whatever he needed to do; the young man had no real idea what to do really. However, attempting to track down a tsundere CPU Candidate who already had a head start was harder than the young man thought, especially since the tsundere CPU Candidate was Uni of Lastation. After a whole hour of searching through the park and even some areas of the plaza Mars could not find Uni, much to his guilt's displeasure. Finally, after spending several more minutes searching for the elusive Lastation CPU Candidate, Mars gave up with the search and decided to take a short break to regain his breath, so he returned to the park in order to do just that. After walking along a snow-clad cobblestone path, passing by many people from all over Lowee, the young man arrived at an empty park bench, small piles of white snow covered some of the bench. Mars brushed away what he could before sitting down, relaxing his leg and arm muscles while his head laid back with his vision facing the sky above.

"Damn, this day has just been troublesome from the beginning, and I'm sure it'll be like that until the end," Mars groaned, laying his right arm over his face, blocking out the clear blue sky and white clouds from his vision. "Had I known it was going to be like this I wouldn't have come."

"Does this mean you are having a bad day so far?" a monotone voice asked him. It sounded as if the owner of the voice, who incidentally sounded like a woman, was standing in front of him.

Mars threw his right arm back and gazed at the direction of the voice to find Blanc standing in front of him, her expression was void of any sort of emotion from what the young man could see of her. Rom and Ram were nearby with two plastic bags full of items by their sides, both Loweean CPU Candidates were attempting to build a snowman. Sighing, he shrugged his shoulders in response before speaking. "Well, not really. Don't get me wrong, it isn't because of the cold weather - which I cannot feel by the way - nor is it the convention itself, it's just… something else that has been going on ever since I first arrived in that cave full of Ancient Dragons."

"Hmm, so you are having problems with Uni and Noire, is that it?" Blanc asked as she sat down on the other side of the park bench, leaving a small gap between her and Mars.

"I guess you could put it like that. While I can understand some of the problems I just cannot handle the tsundere personalities of those two women, especially Noire if she's in a bad mood, or even Uni if she's in a good mood. It's just difficult to handle at times," Mars began to explain. "However, due to my time with Uni I've been introduced to many things, some of which I don't particularly like. One of these is guilt, and I hate it."

Blanc sighed. "I think I'm starting to get the picture now. Something happened not long ago with you and Uni and now you're feeling guilt, am I right?"

Mars nodded. "Yep, that's right. I didn't hear what she was saying and when I told her that Uni seemed pretty upset and angry about it, of course just seeing her like that set off my guilt. Now I've wasted over an hour of my life just looking for her, and of course I failed completely and utterly as I usually do. Any advice you can give me? Hold on, why am I even asking for advice in the first place? Damn it."

The Loweean CPU could not help but giggle at Mars' expense. "Sorry about that, couldn't help myself. As for Uni and Noire, I would not worry about your standing with them if I were you. They don't hate you, especially Uni, no matter what she might say; in fact you are the only male I have ever seen who has managed to get this close to her let alone actually be friends. It's a first, and I have to say that you've done well."

"Thanks, I suppose. Hold on, have guys tried to get close to Uni before?" Mars asked, a little surprised by the news.

Blanc nodded. "Indeed they have, although not a lot of them, just a few who worked in the Lastation Guild. None of them were successful, all of them were driven away by her personality and how she approached her work. For some reason you're just different, and I don't think that is a bad thing."

Mars chuckled, glancing at Blanc for the first time since she sat down near him. "Heh, you're not the only one who said something like that, Kei too said something similar when I asked for some advice concerning awkward silences during and after conversations, she said that only happens to people who Uni cares about. Kind of odd really. Still, seeing her sad like that isn't good for my guilt. I'll have to make it right, somehow."

"Hey, Mars, do you like Uni?" Blanc asked randomly, catching the young man off guard.

"Huh? Like? Define 'like' if you please," Mars responded, yet he already guessed what Blanc was referring to, the light red tinge in his cheeks was evident enough.

"I think you know what I mean, Mars. Do you like Uni? If you are choosing to feign ignorance then allow me to explain it in better detail. Do you have any romantic feelings for Uni, as in love, longing and lust? Do you love Uni?" Blanc asked again, this time in a more serious tone than before.

Mars looked away from the stern stare he was given by Blanc and instead opted to look at the snowy grass in front of him as he did his best to answer the Loweean CPU's questions. "No, I don't like her in that sort of way, Blanc. Besides, I wouldn't be able to tell if I did; I barely understand myself, it's as if I'm a stranger to myself, so with that I wouldn't be able to love Uni when I have no emotions that I can understand. Sorry to disappoint you, Blanc. At least Noire won't try to kill me if she happened to be around and heard our conversation."

The brown haired CPU of the north laughed, unable to keep her amusement to herself. Once she began to calm down after a minute she wiped her face and looked back at the young man, a small smile adorned her face. "You're a lot funnier that you let us on about, Mars. Still, I am sorry if my questioning was uncomfortable for you, I merely wanted to know if you had feelings for Uni. I even asked that tsundere the same question when I was at the Lastation Basilicom, as you may have guessed I got a rather embarrassed and aggravated response, as expected of her really. Uni may not love you, but she sure as hell cares for you, remember that. Treasure what friends you get, Mars, especially those who care greatly for you."

"I will, at least in my own way of course," Mars responded honestly and hesitantly. "I don't usually say this, and especially to those that I barely know, but… thanks for talking to me about my problems with Uni. The only other person I got to talk to about it was Kei and even a short conversation about it with Nepgear."

"It was my pleasure. To be honest I thought you and Uni were already in a relationship the first time I heard about you, when I saw how the two of you acted around each each other I was completely convinced that you and her were boyfriend and girlfriend. I'm sure Vert was hoping that you two were dating, suppose she's going to be disappointed now."

Mars chuckled, amused with what Blanc had said. "Yeah, I think you would be right about that, I'm sure Vert daydreams about me and Uni being together. Still, being in love… what does that feel like?"

Blanc shrugged her shoulders. "No idea. I have books in my Basilicom library that may or may not be of use to you, feel free to look your way through them at your leisure after the convention if you want, I don't mind it."

The conversation between Mars and Blanc soon died away and was swiftly replaced by Rom and Ram, both of whom ran up to the young man and smiled brightly at him. "Hey, we got some sweets for you, dummy," Ram informed Mars as she extended her right hand to reveal a small bag of lollies of all sorts. On the bag was a small piece of paper that read: 'Loweean lollies. All-sorts bag'. Ram shoved the bag of lollies into Mars' hands and smiled brightly at him, so did Rom.

"I hope you like them, they're… my favourite," Rom said nervously to Mars. The young Candidate was not used to the young man and was overly shy towards him, although that was the norm for many people, including the CPUs.

Mars opened the bag of lollies and took a long look at the contents, the corners of his lips began to form a smile, but that failed. However, Blanc, Rom and Ram knew that Mars was trying to smile, and because of that they knew that the young man appreciated the small, sugary gift. "Thanks, Rom and Ram, I appreciate it," Mars thanked them kindly. _Although, I'm not overly fond of sugar, though I won't be telling these three that, especially Rom since my guilt would be attacked by her puppy dog eye impression. Still, it was thoughtful and I do appreciate it._ Mars thought to himself.

"So, you gonna eat a couple of them now?" Ram asked, staring at the young man with wide eyes.

Mars, knowing it was better to go along with what the twin was suggesting rather than to go against it, reached into the bag and pulled out a small piece of white chocolate, after looking at the twins for a few seconds the young man then ate the white chocolate, slowly chewing on the sugary delight before swallowing it. He looked back at the twins and nodded in approval. "Tastes pretty good, thanks for that," Mars said, causing the Loweean CPU Candidates to light up happily.

"I know, right?" Ram said happily. "Eat some more already. Come on! We'll eat some with ya as well."

"Well, if you insist." Mars held out the small bag for Rom and Ram to plunder, and they did so with fierce intensity. In a matter of ten minutes there was hardly anything left in the bag for Mars to munch on, in fact there was only three sweets left in the whole bag; Rom and Ram had eaten most of them without hesitation. As the twins now appeared a little satisfied Mars turned his attention over towards Blanc, he held the bag over at her as he gained her attention. "Want some? There's only three left so take one if you want."

Blanc nodded and took one of the few remaining sweets from the bag, unwrapped the lolly and chucked it into her mouth, she chewed on it for some time before swallowing it. "That was actually pretty good, I'm impressed," Blanc said as she stared at the wrapper with wonder.

"Hmm? Aren't they usually good?" Mars asked Blanc.

The Loweean CPU shook her head. "No, not all of the time anyway, most of the sweets I try just never seem to go well with me. This is an exception." She then turned her attention back to the small bag in Mars' hands. "What are you going to do with the remaining two?"

"I have an idea about what to do with them," Mars replied, looking at the small, near empty bag of sweets in his right hand. "Yes, yes that is what I shall do."

"And what exactly are you going to be doing?"

"Oh nothing much, just going to go and clear up some misunderstandings is all." Not long afterwards the young man noticed someone he recognised in the crowd nearby, he gazed sternly at the tall figure before they disappeared into the throng of people. "Hmm… interesting."

Blanc turned her head around to look at Mars with a confused expression on her face. "Huh? What's interesting? Did you see something?"

Mars nodded. "Yeah, I did. I thought I saw someone I recognised just before, but it looks like they're gone now. Still, I wonder who they were?"

"My my, would you like to know?" a womanly voice called out behind him and Blanc, the voice sounded as if it had royalty to it along with a calm demeanor. Mars and Blanc turned around swiftly to see the person Mars had just seen passing through the crowd, to their surprise it was Vert, and she was looking pretty happy to see Mars. "Well hello there Mars and Blanc, I did not expect the two of you to be here together like this. Tell me, is this a date?"

"Far from it," both Mars and Blanc replied harshly, glaring viciously at the Leanboxian CPU.

Vert shook her right hand dismissively, her bright smile refusing to go away even as she was given a hostile look. "Have no fear, I didn't really think that it was a date to begin with, but I could not resist the urge to have a little fun by teasing the two of you."

"Keep it under control then, or else," Blanc threatened Vert, showing her teeth out of annoyance towards her well endowed counterpart from the far south.

"Have no fear, Blanc, I will attempt to keep my teasing jokes to myself. In fact I am here for Mars," Vert informed the Loweean Goddess reassuringly as the Leanboxian CPU's gaze turned slowly towards the young man.

"Huh? Me? What do you want me for?" Mars asked as he pointed towards himself, he appeared rather confused with the small yet surprising news.

"I thought you knew the answer to that, if you truly have forgotten then I might as well make you remember. You see, a big sister must always look after her younger brother." The blonde goddess then swiftly wrapped her arms around Mars and brought him into a tight hug, his head was squished up against her very large breasts and found it completely difficult to breathe, all while Vert continued to hug him in an overly happy way with a big smile on her face.

Fortunately for Mars he had Blanc to get him out of his situation, which was lucky for him due to the fact that the young man was starting to run out of breath, and quickly. "Hey! You're going to suffocate him if you keep squishing his head in those mountains of yours!" Blanc yelled at the Leanboxian Goddess.

"Huh? Oh dear, sorry about that, Mars," Vert quickly apologised as soon as she saw Mars' worn out and breathless expression. "My apologies, I never meant to hurt you, little brother."

"Yeah yeah, whatever," Mars replied as he regained his breath, eager to breathe in the cool air of Lowee once again. As soon as Mars felt like himself again he asked Vert a question that was burning in his mind. "So, Vert, what are you doing all the way up here in Lowee? I thought you were unaware of the convention that was being held today."

The blonde, blue eyed goddess seemed a little bit displeased with Mars' choice of words, and she made it quite clear despite the cheeky look on her face. "Oh my, it is as if you don't want me around at all. I'm sorely hurt now thanks to that."

"You know I never said or implied that," Mars responded as he fully stood up and faced Vert. "Only for me though, I cannot speak for Blanc."

The Leanboxian Goddess chuckled as she raised her left hand to her face, stifling her amusement from turning into laughter. "I know, I know, don't worry about a thing, Mars. So have no fear, I know you did not imply or said anything of the sort. Besides, even if you did say or imply that you did not want me around, Mars, I would not have been deterred at all. Quite the opposite, in fact."

"Um, okay then, that wasn't creepy in the slightest," Mars said, a little creeped out thanks to Vert, who incidentally was smiling affectionately at him as if he was a younger sibling to her - which was exactly how she saw the young man. "Anyway, if you're here does that mean that Neptune and Nepgear are also wondering around somewhere in this city?"

Vert nodded. "Indeed they are. Last I saw of them I believe Neptune was looking for Noire while Nepgear was looking for Uni, so I decided to look for you." As soon as she finished explaining the situation Vert walked over to Mars and wrapped her arms around his left arm, bringing him close to her forcefully, and without his permission. Soon afterwards the Leanboxian CPU turned around to face Blanc. "Excuse me, Blanc, but do you mind if I take this fine, young man away for a while to see the rest of the convention? That is if you're done with him for the day."

Blanc nodded, much to Rom's and Ram's disappointment. "Yeah, I'm done with him for now. Although if you plan to venture around the convention for a while then come back here in two hours with Mars. Rom and Ram would be disappointed if he didn't show up for what they want to see, then I would have to hear about it for the next week."

"And what do these young Candidates want to show Mars, pray tell?" Vert asked with a raised eyebrow.

"The Toymaker of course! Who or what else would it be?" Ram responded as she stood defiantly in front of the voluptuous goddess, her hands upon her hips. "We want that dummy you're clinging onto to come with us, so you better bring him back in one piece."

"Have no fear, Ram, I shall return Mars to you and Rom in one piece." And with that said Vert whisked Mars away into the crowd forcefully, she was practically dragging him around the city. After a short while Vert looked over at Mars and pouted at him. "Why must you resist and struggle, Mars? Surely you aren't having a bad time, are you?"

Mars glanced away as best he could, doing his best not to show the red tinges in his cheeks. "W-Well, it isn't because of me not having a good time, it's the opposite in that case. But you are dragging me around without listening to my protests, it is becoming rather annoying, and you do not want to see me annoyed. Besides, people are giving us strange looks."

The Leanboxian Goddess continued to glance at Mars, but this time instead of pouting she giggled as her grip on the young man's arm tightened even more - Mars was silently worried that the blonde goddess would accidentally cut off the circulation. To Mars' surprise Vert then appeared to be a little saddened as she began to loosen her grip on the young man's arm. "Well, if you would prefer it I won't hang onto you, nor will I bother you for the day, if that is what you want."

Mars groaned as he facepalmed himself, he could feel the guilt start to rise and flood through his mind once again, except this time it was because of Vert. The young man continued to glance away while he attempted to fix the situation. "W-Well, er, I-I don't mind if you stay like this for a wh-while longer, if that's okay with you."

This cheered Vert up within a matter of nanoseconds. "Of course it alright by me, Mars, in fact I rather enjoy being close to you." She then proceeded to tighten her arms around Mars' left arm, but it was not as tight as it had been beforehand. "Is this better? It's not as tight as it was," she asked the young man, a slight concerned tone was indicated in her voice.

Mars nodded. "Yeah, that feels a little better. But why cling onto me like this in the first place? Surely it isn't because you want to spend time with me, is it?"

Vert chuckled and shrugged her shoulders. "Who knows? Maybe you are right, then again you may be wrong. I will let you find out on your own. Who knows, maybe you might come up with an answer where there is no specific explanation to an answer in the first place."

"So you're only clinging onto me just because you feel like it, is that it?" Mars asked with a raised eyebrow.

Once again the Leanboxian Goddess chuckled, only this time it was a little louder than before. "Oh dear, looks like you already found out about my little plan. Still, I hope you let me hang onto you for a little while longer, I am rather enjoying this moment between us."

"I'm sure you are, Vert," Mars said as he sighed while continuing to be dragged around by the overexcited goddess, yet he decided not to complain about it and instead chose to enjoy the next two hours or so with the Leanboxian CPU.

For the next two hours Mars and Vert explored all that they could of the convention and visited many of the booths that were around, both had fun - at least Vert showed it physically - when they entered a competition that involved them shooting at targets with BB Guns. Vert, ever enthusiastic about such events, forced Mars to play the game on her behalf while she went off to some other place, leaving the young man by himself. Mars proved how much he had improved with his sharpshooter skills by hitting the targets and gaining bullseyes each and every time, people around him seemed to be impressed with his skills, as expressed by the small cheering of people who watched the young man systematically take down target after target, each and every time he gained a bullseye, each and every time he was closer to gaining the No. 1 spot. Finally Mars fired at the last target, gaining his last bullseye and won the grand prize, which was a choice of several items that the had on the shelf behind him. The choices were limited between a large brown teddy bear, a giant fluffy banana, several books that were written by a certain person calling themselves by the penname 'White Heart' and all sorts of different assortments involving toys, books and even sweets.

Just as Mars was going to refuse accepting any of them his eyes caught site of a small doll that was located further away than the other prizes, for some reason the doll reminded him of Uni thanks to its black dress, black hair, ribbons, boots and even the crimson red eyes. As Mars was question by the owner of the booth as to what prize he chose the young man pointed over towards the doll. "I'll have that one," the shaggy brown haired replied.

The booth owner looked dubiously at Mars for a short moment before shrugging. He picked up the doll and handed it over to the young man. "Here you go, sir. Have a good day."

Mars nodded as he gave the BB Gun back to the booth owner and walked away with his small prize clutched firmly in his hands before he placed it in the left pocket of his grey jacket, he did not know where he was heading towards but the young man hoped that he would spot Vert somewhere in the crowd nearby. After a few minutes of walking around the area - which was a small area in Lowee City Plaza - the young man came across Vert, who was carrying a few brown paper bags of food in her arms along with two large sized cups of some sort of drink. She approached Mars and smiled brightly at him. "Afternoon again, Mars. I hope you had a pleasant time when I was away?" Vert asked Mars as she handed him a bag with some sweet bread in it as well as a lemonade. "I am sorry for taking my time, I forgot to ask you what you preferred to what and drink so I had to guess."

"This will do, thanks," Mars responded as the two began to eat and drink to their heart's content while they began the slow walk back to the park.

Vert, upon noticing the doll in Mars' pocket, raised an eyebrow and nudged the young man's shoulder for an answer. "Excuse me, Mars, but why do you have a doll in your pocket?"

"Hmm? Oh, that? I won it just before when you left to get all of this. I don't know why, but it reminds me of Uni, I think that's why I got it in the first place," Mars explained, his gaze continued to be fixated on the sweet bread in his hands. As the young man munched away he could feel his stomach start to ache slightly. _Oh no, here we go again. I've had too many sugary things today so now my stomach is exacting its revenge. Blasted thing! Let's hope that I can last the rest of the day without barfing up everything all over the place, or on anyone for that matter. I wonder if Uni will like the doll? I hope so._

* * *

"Tch. Where the hell is he?" Uni asked impatiently as she stamped her booted foot constantly on the snow-clad pathway in the park, she kept looking over her shoulder and all around her yet there was no sign of either Mars or Vert. "He's late, again. Seriously, next time this happens I'm going to pummel him into the ground."

"Oh c'mon already, lighten up Noire Jr," Neptune said with a cheeky grin and tone. "He's probably just enjoying his little date with Vert, so lay off him already. Who knows, maybe they're having a great lovey-dovey time together, and then things will start to get steamy soon. Just think about it: those two together, a locked room, a nearby bed, closed curtains, no clothes, and then-"

Neptune was soon cut off from her dirty mind trick antics when Uni let out an unexpected outburst. "LIKE HELL I WOULD LET THOSE TWO DO SOMETHING THAT DIRTY!" she blurted out in a highly raised voice, frightening the nearby birds and all the people who were walking past the group of goddesses. The Lastation Candidate's face lit up like a ripe tomato as her gaze fell to the ground, some in the group thought that the snow around Uni would start to melt at any moment.

Noire glanced over at her younger sister and looked at her with a questioning expression. "Why are you so riled up all of a sudden? If those two are together then they're together, no complaints from me; those two are just troublemakers and suit each other."

Blanc shook her head as she lowered her book. "No, I doubt that is the case with those two. Vert merely wanted to spend some time with Mars due to him being her 'little brother', it's like the situations Nepgear finds herself in from time to time with old Thunder Tits. It's just like that, except with Mars instead."

Neptune looked over at Blanc with a devious grin. "Are you sure about that? Couldn't it be simply because-"

Nepgear, who was standing nearby just as Neptune was about to resume her antics while Uni was blushing madly as she glared viciously at the Planeptunian CPU, stepped over towards the two and attempted to remedy the situation. "Um, Neptune, I think you're going a little overboard with the teasing. Uni is starting to get mad," the CPU Candidate informed her older sister.

Neptune, disregarding the fact that her teasing was merely getting Uni madder and madder, continued on. "Ooooh, I think I get it now. You like Mars, don't you? You really, really, really like him~"

Uni snarled as she grabbed Neptune by the shoulders and shook her around violently. "I do not like him like that! Never have and I never will! Stop teasing me about that already!"

"Sheesh, Uni, you're going to make her vomit all over the place if you keep that up," a voice called out behind her.

Uni froze and slowly turned around to face the owner of the voice, it turned out to be Mars alongside Vert, both were looking at Uni with worried expression. "Oh, um, h-h-hey th-there, M-Mars, I didn't notice you," Uni stuttered with embarrassment.

"I know. Me and Vert just got here when we saw you shaking Neptune around while shouting a couple of things at her, just the usual I guess," Mars informed the CPU Candidate of Lastation, yet it only added to her embarrassment.

Rom and Ram, meanwhile, interrupted the conversation rudely by butting into Mars' personal space, thereby inadvertently saving Uni from further embarrassment. "You're late, dummy!" Ram shouted at the young man as she glared at him alongside an unhappy Rom.

"Uh huh, you're late, mister," Rom said as soon as her twin sister finished speaking. "We're going to be late now to see the Toymaker."

"Yeah yeah, I know. Sorry and everything," Mars apologised dismissively. "I take it we'll be heading off then?"

As soon as the twin Candidates nodded vigorously Blanc got off her seat and glanced over at Mars. "I will not be accompanying you or Rom and Ram, I'm afraid that I have to return to the Basilicom and drop off some of the items I have bought over the last few hours," Blanc informed the young man.

"I will be going around the city to see what else I can find," Noire stated. She then glanced over at Neptune nervously, her words stuttering. "Hey, um, N-Neptune, w-would you like to… er, um, a-a-accompany me around the city? I-I-It isn't as if I want you around or that I would get lonely, it's just for your own wellbeing!"

Neptune, giggling without a hint of stopping, nodded her head in agreement. "Alrighty then. Let's-a-go, Nowa! Adventure awaits us!"

"It's 'Noire', not 'Nowa' for crying out loud! Sheesh, just how are you still the senior CPU of Planeptune after all this time?" Noire and Neptune then made their separate way from the group and ventured down the snow-clad pathway, they soon disappeared in the crowd of people, leaving the group to snigger behind their backs.

As soon as they were gone Vert, who had a cheeky look in her eyes, walked up to Nepgear and swiftly wrapped her arms around the Planeptunian Candidate into a tight hug, nearly suffocating the unfortunate lilac haired Candidate. "I'll be adventuring around the rest of the convention with my little sister. We will catch up with you back at the Basilicom." Then without uttering another word both Vert and Nepgear left the park - Nepgear did not have much of a choice in the matter though.

Blanc, upon witnessing the departure of her fellow goddesses, looked over at Mars and nodded a 'goodbye' to him, Uni and her younger sisters. She then proceeded to stand up and make her way back towards her Basilicom, carrying bags full of books. As soon as she was out of sight Rom and Ram motioned for Mars and Uni to follow them, and follow the twins they did - Uni did not have anything else to do, as was her excuse. The group of four made their way through the crowds and down the street, Rom and Ram were hurrying their pace while Mars was able to keep up with them, Uni on the other hand was slowly starting to fall behind as Rom, Ram and Mars made their way forwards. Eventually, Mars looked back behind him and ran back for Uni.

"You're too slow," Mars informed the Lastation Candidate.

"Well screw you, too," Uni replied harshly as she breathed in and out heavily; her stroll through the city earlier without a break had finally caught up with her.

"Heh, whatever." The young man then turned back towards Rom and Ram. "Hey, you two! Hold up for us!"

The twins grumbled to each other before complying with the young man's wishes, they then made their way back towards Mars and Uni, both did not seem pleased with the short break. "Come on already, we're going to be late! You dummies are just too weak," Ram informed them rudely.

"Tch. To hell with you, too," Uni responded with a harsh tone, her eyes narrowing towards Ram.

"How about we just walk for now? The Toymaker is probably going to be open for a while longer," Mars suggested. Soon enough the group were walking towards the Toymaker's store, all the while Rom and Ram were just ahead of Mars and Uni. The young man glanced at Uni and nudged her shoulder for attention. "Hey, you alright there?"

Uni nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine now. Th-Thanks for asking."

"No problem. Oh yeah, I just remembered something." Mars then dug into his pocket and caught hold of the Uni-looking doll, he brought it out and handed it over to Uni. "Here, this is for you."

Uni held the doll with wonder in her expression, her eyes widened and her fingers twitched involuntarily, the Candidate looked like she would cry at any moment. Just before Mars could ask what was wrong Uni looked back at the young man with the happiest expression that he had seen on her, a bright smile had made it's home on her face. When she spoke her words had lost her tsundere nature. "I… I love this. Thank you, Mars, thank you so much. No one has ever done something like this for me before."

"Really? No one at all? Not even Noire or Nepgear?" Mars asked, surprised that Uni had not been given any gifts before.

"No, not even once, except on birthdays of course. But I never received anything like this before in this sort of situation," Uni explained, her attention falling back to the doll which she clutched against her chest. "Thank you, Mars, I mean it. I'll repay you somehow."

Mars shook his hand dismissively, although for some reason he could not place the young man could feel his heart rate start to increase. "No need for that, Uni. I don't need anything as compensation, just seeing you smile like that is rewarding enough."

"I-I-Idiot. Don't say things like that," Uni blurted out as she blushed brightly and glanced away, her tsundere nature had returned. After a couple of minutes Uni stopped still and tugged on Mars' sleeve, making him stop walking and turn around to face her. "W-Wait up a moment, please."

"Um, alright then. What's up?" Mars asked Uni as he stood in front of her. Then to his amazement the raven haired Candidate stepped forward and wrapped her arms around the young man, bringing herself into direct contact with the young man as the Candidate rested her head up against Mars' chest. The young man, bewildered at the display, stuttered for a moment. _Wh-Why am I getting embarrassed about this? I've hugged Uni before, so why does it feel different this time?_ Mars thought as he slowly wrapped his arms around Uni.

"Th-Th-This is just a th-thank you, there's no ulterior motives behind this at all!" Uni declared, her hug tightening. Both stood in each other's embrace, both of them utterly silent.

That was broken by Ram, who ran back to them with Rom at her side and an annoyed look upon her face. "Come on, you two, stop being all lovey-dovey and hurry up!" Ram demanded as she and her twin sister took off, leaving Uni and Mars in an embarrassed state. The two of them quickly broke off the hug, blushed and swiftly followed Rom and Ram, neither Uni or Mars said anything else to each other after that.

After following the Loweean Candidates for a little while longer the four of them arrived at a large store on a quiet street, at least it was usually quiet, the convention had changed that. Mushroom styled stores and houses were all over the place, surrounding the street and the store. The store itself looked rather bland on the outside, save for a few posters, but behind the glass windows on shelfs were dozens upon dozens of toys, all of them were being handled by overly excited children of all ages, there were even some teenagers in the store as well. Some children were surrounding a rather tall man who appeared to be more of a scientist than a toymaker due to the rugged white lab coat, but he did seem quite happy and cheerful as well.

Ram, full of excitement, pointed towards the tall man. "That's the Toymaker, the one who's surrounded by all those little kids. We're gonna- hey, where's that blue eyed dummy with the shaggy brown hair? Where did he run off to?"

Uni pointed over towards a nearby convenience store, there the group saw Mars entering the building and walk towards the drinks section, it appeared that he was thirsty - which happened to be true, not to mention that his stomach was in pain due to all the sugar he had consumed. Ram scoffed at Mars' apparent weakness and strolled ahead, pulling her twin sister along with her while Uni walked behind them, her gaze kept turning towards the convenience store and the Loweean Candidates. Within a few seconds the store was emptied and a sign that read 'Closed for afternoon tea' was hung up on the glass door, fortunately for the Candidates the Toymaker was standing outside the now locked door of his store, although much to everyone's surprise he had a packet of cigarettes in his left hand and a lighter in his right, it seemed that the Toymaker was a smoker.

"Smoking will kill you one day," Uni said to the Toymaker as she and the Candidates of Lowee approached him.

"Huh? Oh, it's the CPU Candidates of Lowee and Lastation. How can I be of service?" the Toymaker asked politely as he put away the packet of cigarettes and the lighter. The Toymaker had scruffy orange hair, amber eyes, a dirty white lab coat, brown pants and white shoes, a gold ring with an emerald carved into it was worn around one of his fingers. He appeared to be rather friendly from first appearances and knew how to be polite.

Rom and Ram appeared to be extremely excited to see the Toymaker in person, they stood right in front of the semi-famous man and smiled brightly at him. "Oh wow, it's so great to see you in person," Ram said, awed by the tall orange haired man. "You're like, awesome and all! Can we go and get some of your latest toys? Please?"

Rom nodded in agreement. "Please? We promise not to be any trouble."

The Toymaker chuckled and rubbed the back of his head with a smile adorning his face. "Well, I was going to go and get some afternoon tea, but I cannot ignore the requests of the CPU Candidates of Lowee. Very well then, I'll let you in, maybe I might throw in a discount for you two as well."

The Loweean Candidates lit up with excitement and practically bounced around. "Yahoo! Thanks a lot, mister!" Ram exclaimed enthusiastically. "Now all we need is for that dummy to pay for it."

"Hmm? Dummy? Who are you talking about, Lady Ram?" the Toymaker asked curiously.

"He's just a f-friend. Rom and Ram wanted to take him here so he could see your selection of toys," Uni explained, stuttering when she said the word 'friend'. Not long afterwards the Lastation Candidate looked back at the convenience store to see Mars emerging with a few bottle of water, one was already empty. "Ah, there he is, right over there. Hey, hurry up and get over here already, idiot."

"Yeah yeah, whatever you say, tsundere," Mars responded as he got closer, receiving a glare from the Candidate, who incidentally was still clutching onto the doll tightly to her chest. When Mars returned to the group he looked over at the Toymaker and raised an eyebrow towards him. "I take it that this is the Toymaker you twins keep on talking about? Sure doesn't look like much to me."

To Rom's, Ram's and Uni's surprise it appeared as if the Toymaker was shivering at the sight of Mars, not out of anger but instead out of fear. Even Mars went wide eyed as he studied the Toymaker's looks, no one could have predicted what was going on through their heads. The Toymaker thought he recognised the young man from a past he rather not remember, while Mars remembered where he had last seen the orange haired man; he almost snarled like a wild animal and restrained himself from pouncing at the Toymaker. _It's him. It_ is _him! The right hand man of Maximilian and the chief scientist of Project Mars! Pelagius Oraiste, Justiciar of the Project. I thought he died during the initial explosion, guess not. I think he remembers me, even if he doesn't then I will make him remember._ Mars thought viciously as flashes of old memories from Project Mars appeared in his mind; the Toymaker - Pelagius Oraiste the Justiciar - forging torture machines, electrocuting other subjects including Mars, beating up all those who attempted to rebel but never killing them. All the memories flashed quickly through Mars' made his head ache in pain, his emotions began to rise in a heated rage, but he barely managed to keep it under control.

Nevertheless, the orange haired man extended his right hand out towards the young man, although it was rather shaky. "H-Hello there, I am the Toymaker of Lowee. What is your name?" he asked as politely as he could.

Mars took the orange haired man's hand and shook it. "The name is Mars. Good to meet you," Mars said with a savage look in his expression, his face lingering close to the orange haired man's, his eyes flashed blood red. Then he whispered quietly. "The Toymaker. What a funny name you chose for yourself, Pelagius."

The Toymaker was now silently panicking. _He knows, he knows, he knows, he knows, he knows! I'm dead, I'm dead, I'm dead, I'm dead, I'm dead! Subject 13 has come, and he knows who I am!_ Even as he panicked the orange haired man turned back towards the door of his store and unlocked it, keeping his promise to the CPU Candidates of Lowee. As they entered alongside Uni and Mars the young man glanced at the Toymaker with a vicious glare, his eyes were full of hate. After he walked into the store the Toymaker sighed, knowing his fate. _No, there is no running from my fate. I cannot run, I cannot hide, I cannot fight. I must stand and accept my fate, I just wish it never came to this. Even if I did make a run for it I doubt_ she _would understand the reason._

* * *

Night had fallen over Gamindustri and at that moment in the Loweean Basilicom there was a conversation occurring between Mars and Uni in the corridor outside the young man's room, the two of them were feeling a little nervous due to the events that had taken place earlier in the day. Uni was in her black, thick nightgown and had her arms behind her back, her gaze was directed at the ground. Mars was wearing his usual attire - a grey jacket, black shirt and blue jeans, all of them had stitches in them - and was standing in the doorway to his guest room, his arms were crossed over his chest while his gaze was directed elsewhere away from Uni. Their conversation was kind of awkward for the two of them, given what they went through during the afternoon before they met the Toymaker.

"So, um… I just wanted to say… er, th-th-thank you," Uni informed Mars nervously, her hands fidgeted behind her back. "Just, er… th-thank you for the doll. I l-l-liked it, really I did."

"Thanks for that, Uni, I appreciate it," Mars said with complete honestly. The sounds of owls were then heard from outside, signifying how late it was in the night. Mars sighed as he finally looked at Uni. "I think it's time to go to bed. I'll see you in the morning. Sleep well, Uni."

The raven haired Candidate nodded, a red tinge appeared in her cheeks as she began to walk off. "G-Goodnight, Mars, try to sleep well this time. I-I'll be in my room if you need me. Bye." She then hurried off to her room, walking down the white and blue coloured hallway swiftly.

Mars watched as Uni disappeared into her room, closing the door behind her. The young man then closed his door as he approached the window in his room, he looked at it and stared back at his reflection. He knew something was different between him and Uni, but he could not place it. _Maybe the intimacy in our weird friendship has grown because of the doll I gave her; I never seen her smile like that before, it really set my heart racing. That sounded weird, didn't it? This never happened before, so why now? Bah, nevermind that now, I have a former scientist from Project Mars to take care of. I don't care if the children in Lowee look up to him, he is still a criminal who deserves a bloody justice._

The young man reached into his jacket and pulled out his two handguns, he made sure they were loaded before strapping them to his belt in a hurry. He threw his hood over his head, zipped up his jacket and straightened his boots. "Right then, time to exact justice," Mars murmured as he opened his window and jumped out, he safely landed onto the snowy ground as his Anti-Energy glowed brightly around his body, protecting him from harm. The young man then proceeded to retrace his steps back towards the Toymaker's store, guns in hands.

It did not take long for Mars to remember where the store was located, all the young man had to do now was make sure that he was not noticed on the streets by anyone who passed by. Fortunately for Mars it appeared that no one liked taking late night walks through the city. Filled with hatred and confidence Mars strolled through the park in a hurried walk, yet never broke out into a run. Eventually the young man found himself outside the Toymaker's store, it's door was barred shut and the windows were locked. Mars shook his head with how disappointing the initial defences were. _Pathetic. Completely and utterly pathetic. I've seen the defences on old people's homes be more sophisticated than this. Still, there is always a back door to everything, so in theory there should be a backdoor behind the store._ Mars thought as he began to climb on top of any obstructs he could find and make his way onto the rooftop, from there he carefully sneaked his way over the roof and into the backyard, which appeared more like it belonged to a house.

As soon as Mars landed onto the ground he looked behind him to see the backdoor to the Toymaker's store and house, but it too was locked. Finally giving into his rage he let the Anti-Crystal embedded in his heart to power up his body in Anti-Energy, fueling Mars' savage kick to the backdoor. The kick did the trick as it busted open to reveal the inside of what appeared to be the house section of the store, more specifically the kitchen. Mars walked into the kitchen and began to gaze at everything he could see, despite the fact that it was almost pitch black. Suddenly a door opened nearby in a hallway, the young man peered down it to see a bedroom light on and a tall man with orange hair standing in the doorway, his gaze met Mars'. The Toymaker, Pelagius Oraiste the Justiciar, had been found.

Mars could barely contain the anger he had been suppressing for years as soon as he caught sight of Pelagius, he bared his teeth and growled at the tall man before rushing forward, catching the Toymaker by the throat and threw him against the back wall of his bedroom. The orange haired man cried out in pain as he slid to the ground, groaning to himself in unintelligible words. "Speak up, you son-of-a-whore, I can't hear you," Mars snarled as his eyes glowed brightly with blood red.

The Toymaker regained his breath and looked up at Mars, he could not help but quake with fear at the sight of his impending doom. But he chose to try and talk his way out of it anyway. "Look, Subject 13, if you would-" the Toymaker began to say before Mars cut him off.

"Mars! The name is Mars!" the young man yelled as he tightly grabbed Pelagius by the throat, raising him into the air as Anti-Energy began to burn the tall man, both his skin and his insides, his head felt as if it was on fire. "Any last words before I send you to the Gamindustri Graveyard?"

"Please, don't do this," the Toymaker spluttered out as he gripped onto Mars' hand. "I never wanted to hurt you or the others, nor did I want to experiment on you. I was just following orders."

Mars, however, did not relent. "I have been at the mercy of those who have been following orders. No more."

Pelagius gagged as the internal fire began to take hold, he could feel it begin to burn his throat. "Please, let me live. I have been doing my best over the last two years to repent for what I have done. To bring smiles on the faces of children, to make myself useful, to ensure happiness whenever I can make it happen, that is what I have been doing. And look at the results. I know that I am guilty for what I have done, I know that the sins of my past can never fully go away, but don't you think that I am not haunted for what I have done? I have nightmares about the screams, the yelling, the blood… by the goddess, all the blood. Don't you think that I am suffering enough without having you here?"

Mars stared into Pelagius' eyes, wondering if the Toymaker was telling the truth and was having nightmares about his involvement in Project Mars. The young man naturally doubted the former justiciar, but the tall man had the same look in his eyes that Mars would get whenever he remembered his retched time in Project Mars - the damp prison cell, the torture room, the yelling, screaming, the blood, the experiment. The young man shook his head and growled, shaking his thought away as he threw the Toymaker back onto the ground violently. "Tch. I'm not here for your pity, I'm here to kill you," Mars declared as he pulled out one of his handguns and aimed it at the tall man's head. "Say your prayers, bastard."

The Toymaker chuckled as he coughed, his throat felt parched from the inner fire Mars had caused. "I know that, I was just telling you how I have been attempting to redeem myself. Well, if I have to die then I won't stop you, but the misses will be heartbroken."

Mars was rather surprised with Pelagius' choice of words. "Misses? Who is that? A partner in crime?"

The Toymaker chuckled. "Yeah, the misses I'm referring to is my wife, Margaret Oraiste. She's a feisty yet dreamy redhead of a woman, always caring and daydreaming about the future. She's pregnant with our child, just a few more days until our baby is born. Margaret is in the hospital at the moment, she insisted that I continue to run the store even though the baby could pop out at any moment in a day or two, she's always been like that. You would understand what I am going through if you were also a father-to-be with a pregnant wife."

"You're going to be a father?" Mars asked the Toymaker with wonder in his voice. The young man then looked over at a nearby desk to see a picture frame with a photo of the Toymaker and his wife Margaret. She had long, flowing red hair, bright orange eyes, a large smile and a white dress was worn, her stomach appeared to be a little on the big side, indicating her pregnancy.

Pelagius nodded. "Yeah, I am. I know that I don't deserve to be a father, but it just happened. That is another reason why I want to live, so that I may live together with my wife and our child-to-be, so that I can make them smile. This is how I aim to repent." He then sighed and glanced away sadly. "But I will not stop you if you want to kill me, I do deserve it after all I had done. But remember this: killing all those who wronged you will not bring happiness, it will only bring more sadness. Make your choice, Mars."

Mars was now troubled, he had come to kill one of Maximilian's chief scientists but now the young man had mixed thoughts with his own motives. Killing the Toymaker would only bring sadness from all sorts of people, including Margaret, the Loweean Candidates and all the children in Lowee. On the other hand, the Toymaker had been a brutal scientist and justiciar under Maximilian, the Director of Project Mars; many test subjects suffered by his hands, not all survived. With mixed feelings and thoughts Mars closed his eyes, tightened the grip on his handgun and fired a single bullet.

* * *

 **A/N: Took less than a week to complete this, and it is one of my most largest chapters to date – rather proud it, since it's just full of information and everything. I hope I did well with the cliffhanger this time, I think I improved from last time I attmepted such a thing. I do apologise if this chapter was too long for your tastes, let me know if you would prefer shorter chapters instead of long ones – I'm more used to writing long chapters but I can attempt to compromise if needed. Anyway, if you have any suggestions or just a review in general then please do inform me, any requests are appreciated as well and may you have a good day if you can.  
**


	21. Raids, Forgotten Memories and Cosplaying

**Chapter 20: Raids, Forgotten Memories and Cosplaying**

Mars calmly and slowly walked down the black and white hallways of the Lastation Basilicom, his hands were in the pockets of his grey jacket, his posture was slouching forward, a fatigued expression adorned his tired face. The young man was tired, that was a given. He was also annoyed. Not many annoyed Mars and got away with it, especially of late ever since the nightmares took a firm hold in his mind. Being sleep deprived was one thing, but suffering from a week without sleep out of fear of suffering from nightmares about the past was another thing altogether. Now here he was, strolling down the hallways, passing by a few members of the staff without a polite nod or wave to them, eagerly ready to know what Kei wanted him for - it was as complete mystery to him as to what the silver haired Oracle wanted.

 _I hope whatever Kei wants isn't serious, I already have enough trouble to worry about._ Mars thought as he passed a corner and glanced down it. He saw a few members of the Lastation Basilicom staff mingle together, discussing stocks, finances and their families. It was rather normal banter, considering who they were working for, and it sounded as if it was nothing important for Mars to eavesdrop in. Not long after first hearing them the young man continued on his walk towards Kei's office, which was located on the floor below where all of the main offices were located, all were manned by members of the staff, although the were not many Basilicom staff members in the first place.

After walking down the flight of stairs, and after passing by a few offices filled with a few workers who were tapping away at their computers, the young man finally arrived outside the office of Kei Jinguji. Mars had been inside the office only a few times, and all that he could remember of the office was paperwork, lots and lots of paperwork that almost reached the ceiling. He knew that to be called for some sort of briefing by Kei was to mean that she had some sort of mission in mind for him, whether Mars liked it or not was another matter entirely. It was no secret to everyone in the Basilicom that Kei actually bribed, or at least paid in some say, Mars with Nepsi, a famous Planeptunian fizzy drink that the young man had grown addicted to. Whether he was paid or bribed with Nepsi to do work, it always worked, no matter the job.

 _Well, better now than never._ Mars thought as he knocked on the door, waiting for a response from the other side. Soon enough he heard a disinterested and quiet reply come from the other side of the door. Shrugging to himself, the young man opened the door and stepped inside. Kei's office was large, larger than Mars' room at least, and it was filled to the brim with paperwork, files, documents and crunched up pieces of paper. In the middle of it all sat the Oracle of Lastation in a black office chair, a half empty cup of cold tea was situated next to several pieces of paper that the Oracle was signing, her expression was tired. The young man closed the door behind him and walked up to the almost completely covered desk and looked down that the silverette woman.

"You look tired and worn out," Mars said without bothering to say hello as he sat down in front of the Oracle on the other side of the desk.

Kei glanced up at the young man and chuckled. "You look worse than I do, way worse. It is as if you went a whole week without sleeping and just drank coffee the whole time." The Oracle then glanced at her cup of tea, which was half empty. "Speaking of which, I think I am going to need something much stronger than a mere cup of tea to keep me going. I'll get someone to bring over some coffee, want any?"

Mars shrugged. "Sure. Why not?"

Kei nodded and pressed a button on some sort of communication machine to her left on the desk, she had to swipe away some loose paperwork to get to it before pressing anything though. "This is Kei, I need two cups of coffee here pronto. Oh, and bring some extra over as well, we are going to need it."

"Very well then, Lady Jinguji," was the response. Mars did not know who was responding, but it sounded like one of the staff members.

The Oracle nodded and sighed before leaning back into her chair, her gaze falling towards Mars. "I think it may be best if I have a coffee machine installed in here. I'll have to go out shopping after all, unless you would like to take care of that matter. I just might throw in a bottle or two of Nepsi in it for you."

Mars sighed and stared at Kei sternly. "Don't bribe me with Nepsi so I can do the Basilicom's shopping for you, I'm not a courier." The young man then glanced quickly around the room, his eyes darting from area to area before it settle back on the Oracle in front of him. "Where do you keep all of the Nepsi anyway?"

Kei sighed as she reached down into a locked black safe with blue and white lining, a set of buttons with numbers on them were situated in the middle with a small screen above the buttons, the Oracle pressed a few buttons and soon afterwards air escaped the safe as the door slide open, revealing bottles upon bottles of Nepsi. Kei reached down into the safe, pulled out three bottles of Planeptune's second famous fizzy drink - the first was Nep Bull - and placed them on the desk in front of Mars. "Here's three bottles of Nepsi, think of it as the beginning of your payment," she informed the young man.

Just then a knock came from the door, soon afterwards it was opened after Kei called out and a maid of sorts walked in with a tray full of cups of coffee. The maid had long black hair, dark blue eyes, and a slightly tanned look. She was wearing a standard maid outfit: a black dress with long sleeves, frilly cuffs, white stockings and a white frilly ribbon atop her head. The maid placed the full tray on the desk, bowed politely and walked out of the office, but before she closed the door the dark blue eyed maid turned back and faced Kei. "Excuse me, Lady Jinguji, but I must inform you of something odd," the maid informed the Oracle.

Kei's interest seemed to be piqued with the small declaration of news. "Really now? Tell me, what's odd?"

"Well, I know that there are hardly any maids here in the Basilicom, not to mention that we are losing maids as well, but the costumes appeared to have been handled by someone who isn't a maid. A costume is missing," the maid explained to Kei.

The silver haired Oracle raised an eyebrow with a surprised look. "Is that so? I'm interested in knowing what's going on, but I doubt it is of great importance, all that I can think of as a possible answer is that someone happens to like the costume and wants to wear it."

"You mean like cosplaying?" Mars asked as he opened a bottle of Nepsi, much to Kei's chagrin, due to the fact that the Nepsi was meant as payment. "Who the hell would cosplay around here?"

"Who knows? I for one do not fully care, so long as they return the costume intact; a lot of money was spent on it." Kei then turned her attention towards Mars. "As for you, stop drinking the Nepsi. THey are your payment, not for your consumption as of this moment."

The young man grumbled under his breath but continued to drink the opened bottle of Nepsi before looking back at Kei, who had an annoyed look in her tired expression. "Whatever. Just tell me what needs to be done already," Mars grumbled as he threw the empty bottle into the trash bin.

As the maid bowed once more before cleaving the office, closing the door behind her as she left, the silver haired Oracle glanced sternly at Mars while she drank her cup of coffee. "I understand that patience is not one of your better virtue, but try to contain yourself from drinking these Nepsi bottles all at once; they are advanced payment. Now, drink the coffee before it gets cold."

The scruffy brown haired man complied with Kei's stern request, although he did so grudgingly - the young man did not like being told what to do, no matter who it was or what the situation happened to be. After the young man drank half of his cup of coffee, which surprised Kei due to the coffee still being rather hot, he glanced sternly at the silverette Oracle. "Alright then, explain to me why I am here, aside from getting you a coffee machine for your office," Mars demanded as politely as he could, but politeness was just not in his vocabulary.

Nevertheless, Kei did not seem to be fazed by it, instead she merely nodded her head once before taking a sip of coffee. "The job that I have for you is rather important, for if it is ignored then relations between Lastation and Planeptune could potentially fall."

"So what is it?" Mars asked after he drank some more coffee.

"You see, the job sounds easier than how I just described it, but it is rather serious." The Oracle drank some more of her coffee before continuing. "Over the past two weeks Lastation has been sending spare mechanical parts, machinery and robots of all shapes and sizes over to Planeptune for their use; it's an extra part of the trade agreement that had been set up two to three weeks ago. However, over the last several days there had been reports of our trade caravans being ambushed along the roads to the Planeptunian border. Survivors indicate that the attacks were led by a few people whose eyes would glow red whenever they were in combat, at least the initial attacks on the caravans indicated that anyway, goddess knows what goes on now."

Mars narrowed his eyes and gripped the sides of his seat, the news that there were several possible War Gods and War Goddesses leading attacks against trade caravans secretly excited him; the deaths of the caravaners meant little to the young man. "When were they last sighted? Where is this trade route? And are they War Gods?" he asked the Oracle.

Kei shrugged. "I don't know if they are War Gods, but if they area, which is the most likely case, then they have had no part of the last two raids. The last two raids were conducted by robots, although a War God could be behind the recent attacks. I need you to force the attackers out of the area and be brought to justice, but try not to make a ruckus while you are out there. Once you get back from securing the trade route come back and you shall be paid, and paid well."

Mars drank the rest of his coffee before standing up eagerly. "Alright then, you've got a deal, Kei. I'll be back before dinner, at least I hope so. Just give me the location of the attacks and I will take care of the rest."

The Oracle of Lastation smiled as she gave the young man a map with notes and circles indicating where the attacks had taken place. "Good luck, Mars, you will need it. Take the other two bottles of Nepsi with you, drink them at your own leisure."

The young man gladly took the remaining two bottle of Nepsi, he opened the second bottle and began to drink out of it before his attention turned back towards Kei. "Oh, by the way, where's Uni? I went to check up on her this morning but she was already gone somewhere, even Noire did not know, although she was acting a little weird and it was clear that she did not want me around at all. What's up with both?"

The silver haired Oracle rubbed her chin and hummed thoughtfully to herself for a short moment, after a minute of thinking to herself Kei glanced back up at Mars with an answer. "Hmm, well I remember Uni informing me that she was off to do a quest for the Guild, apparently there has been some trouble in the abandoned mines in the north-east area of Lastation; she may be back by afternoon tea, possibly four or five in the afternoon. As for Noire, even I do not know what is wrong with her, she has been rather secretive for the last few days and I do not know why. I think it is best if you leave her alone for the moment." She then leaned back into her chair and glanced over at the door. "Go on then, you have a mission to complete, and it is not going to wait all day for you."

* * *

"Well, that could have gone better, but I guess it was all that I could do at that moment," Mars murmured to himself as he strolled back to the Basilicom, several plastic bags were hanging around his shoulders and arms, a small coffee machine was hanging out of one of the bags, a worn out expression was adorning the young man's face. "Still, did Kei have to order so much? Surely they must have members of the staff that do this sort of stuff."

Mars had just finished shopping for specific items that Kei had requested earlier in the day after he had finished his mission in resecuring the trade routes, which he succeeded in common brutal fashion. From what Mars had gathered it seemed as if the raids on the trade caravans had been led by several War Gods, but over the last few days they had slowly dispersed, leaving behind a young woman who less than prepared for Mars' arrival. It was her greatest and last mistake. Mars chuckled malevolently as he remembered her fate. _She was too easy to deal with. Who knew that she was afraid of water? Lucky for me that there was a lake nearby that I drowned her in; she definitely deserved it for not giving me the information that I wanted about Maximilian and this new Project of his._

As the young man turned down a corner and walked onto another street, passing by people who did their best to ignore the sniper rifle that was strapped to his back, he reached into one of his pockets and pulled out a small piece of copper ore. "Heh, who knew that the War Gods had discovered a source of copper ore down by the Black Road highway? I best get this sample to Kei, she'll know what to do. Hmm, speaking of Kei, I wonder how much Nepsi she's going to give me? I hope plenty to satisfy me for the day. Should I give some to Uni? Maybe."

His mumbling was soon distracted by a curious sight which captivated his eyes. From what the young man could see there was a familiar woman wearing rather fancy clothes, although she wore them everyday, along with the white stockings and there held up by her dress. Her raven haired twin tails fluttered behind her, her red eyes was fixated on the Basilicom in the distance, and for some reason the familiar woman was wearing red eyeglasses while she was carrying a wrapped up brown parcel under her left arm. She was walking in a hurried state on the other side of the road, her direction of choice apparently appeared to be the Basilicom. Mars sighed deeply as he recognised who the twin tailed woman was. "Hey, Noire! What are you doing?" Mars called out loudly for everyone to hear.

Noire swiftly glanced around with a frightened look on her face before her glance landed on Mars, with a furious glare she crossed the mildly empty road and stomped over to Mars. She was furious with the young man for some reason that eluded his reasoning. "What the hell, Mars? Don't go bellowing out my name at random in public!" she whispered harshly at him, her teeth clenching together tightly.

Mars shrugged. "So what? It doesn't matter if people know you're wandering around, right?"

Noire glanced away, her cheeks bright red. "I-I-It does matter! No one must know that I'm wandering around back towards the Basilicom!"

"And why is that?" Mars asked sternly, crossing his arms as he began to interrogate the tsundere CPU of Lastation. As she squirmed around, fidgeting nervously on the spot, the young man sighed and rubbed his temples. "Why do you have to be such a tsundere?"

"I am not a tsundere!" Noire yelled loudly for everyone to hear, although that was unintentional. Once the Lastationite Goddess recovered from the outburst she quickly glanced around to see everyone nearby looking at her with confused expressions. The raven haired CPU's face burned bright red as her gaze fell to the ground for a couple of seconds. Soon after she grabbed Mars' right wrist and ran off with him down the street before they turned down an empty alleyway. Once they stopped Noire quickly let her grip on Mars wrist go as she leaned up against an outside wall. "Damn it, Mars! Don't go and provoke me like that in public! What the hell were you thinking?!"

"I was merely attempting to get answers, you psychotic tsundere of a CPU," Mars replied with a snarl, rubbing his wrist to relieve him from the sting of pain that came from Noire's extremely tight grip. As the raven haired goddess grumbled audibly at Mars calling her a 'psychotic tsundere', all while she attempted to calm herself down, the young man glanced at the red glasses she was wearing with a confused look. "So what's with the glasses?"

This rose Noire from her stupor. "Huh? Oh, the glasses? Well, isn't it obvious? For someone who is supposed to be rather smart, according to Neptune and Vert, you are lacking in common sense about disguises. Get it, barbarian? I'm in disguise."

Mars glared viciously at Noire, the thought of firing another warning shot came to his mind, but luckily for the two of them he managed to push it aside. Nonetheless, he was pissed off. "Watch your language, Noire, I'm not as friendly as those two goddesses think I am. Don't piss me off. Anyway, why the poor disguise in the first place? Is it unnatural for the CPU to roam her own nation? Plus, what's with the parcel? Did you order something?"

"What's with all the questions?" Noire replied with a question of her own, narrowing her eyes suspiciously at the young man.

"I'm just curious is all. So, what's in it?" When Noire glanced away again, her cheek burning red once more, Mars had an idea that involved the 'disguise' and the parcel. "Oh, I think I'm starting to get it. You ordered something embarrassing, haven't you? Let me guess, it's BL manga and light novels isn't it?"

Noire glared at Mars, her clenched teeth bare to see, her grip on the parcel tightened as her hands reddened along with her cheeks, but instead it was out of rage. "Wh-What the hell is wrong with you?! Like hell I would read that kind of shit like Vert does! It's something completely different?!"

"So what is it?" Mars asked in a serious tone, but as he expected Noire looked away out of embarrassment. "So you're not going to tell me? Fine, alright then."

Noire sighed, glad that the argumentative questioning was now over. After a minute of awkward silence between the two of them the CPU of Lastation attempted to talk about something to lighten the mood between them; it was something Histoire had suggested when Noire asked her for advice with talking to people years ago. "So… um, wh-what have you been up to? Apart from shopping of course."

"Well, I've been dealing with those raids on the trade caravans since the morning, then I went shopping as you can see, got some supplies for the kitchen and Kei, including that coffee machine that you can see," Mars replied, his gaze falling down towards the small coffee machine. Suddenly he placed the bags around his right arm and shoulder down onto the ground, he reached into the right pocket of his jacket and pulled out the copper ore for Noire to gaze at. "I also found this after I dealt with those attackers, which turned out to be some War Goddess and a few robots. It's just a bit of copper ore, but there's a lot more where I found it."

"Copper Ore? You found this stuff near the Black Road highway, and there's more of it around there?" Noire asked with an astounded tone as she took hold of the ore, examining it carefully. "And wait a minute, did you say 'War Goddess'? You mean one of those who attacked you, Uni and Nepgear in Planeptune? What happened to her?"

Mars rubbed the back his head head and nodded. "Yeah, she was one of them, but not the same person who tackled me. The robots are destroyed and the War Goddess is dead; she drowned in the lake while trying to escape me." It was not the whole truth, but it was not a complete lie either; the War Goddess had been forcefully drowned by an angry Mars. Nonetheless, Mars went back to talking about the copper deposits. "And yes, there's more of that copper around there, I think it was just to the south-east of the road, near the rocky hills east of Lake Dubh."

"Really? Interesting. You should give that to Kei and let her handle it from there, it'll give her something else to do besides all the work that I should be doing." Noire gave the ore of copper back to Mars, who placed it back in his pocket. "You should give it to Kei when we get back. That is, I assume you are returning to the Basilicom. I-I-If you want, w-we can… w-w-walk together…"

Mars would have smiled if he could at Noire's attempt in being friendly with him, he also knew that she was just trying her best at it. With a sigh he nodded his head, silently thanking himself for interrupting Noire's embarrassed stuttering. "Alright then, Noire, I can walk with you. We're heading for the same destination anyway."

This seemed to brighten Noire up; for some reason she appeared to be trying to be friendly towards the young man. Mars did not seem to mind that though as he picked up his bags and walked side-by-side with the CPU of Lastation, their destination was the Lastation Basilicom. Despite being in close proximity to each other, due to Noire laying aside most of her concerns about Mars going a bit wild with his Anti-Energy, the two of them did not strike up a new conversation or continue the previous one, leaving only silence between and around them. Some time later as they approached the Basilicom Noire's gaze turned back towards the young man, finally breaking the silence. "So, what's the deal between you and Uni? The two of you act like you're some sort of couple, plus there have been some rumours spreading across the four nations about the two of you," Noire asked Mars with curiosity.

Mars sighed and shook his head, he could not believe that out of all the people who could have or had asked him that question it just had to be Noire of all people, which was rather surprising to him. Ever since their trip to the convention in Lowee the rumours surrounding a supposed relationship between the young man and the CPU Candidate of Lastation were voiced, unsurprisingly it was also rumoured that Mars was in a polygamous relationship with both Uni and Vert, which was of course not true, although that did not stop Vert from teasing him about it. While the rumours had started to die down, especially the polygamous one, there was still some uncertainty, which made Uni too embarrassed to be seen in public with the young man. "Look, me and Uni are not in a relationship if that is what you are getting at, we don't like each other in that sort of way," Mars replied without glancing at Noire.

"Jeez, I was only being friendly, no need to get all uptight with me," Noire said as her tone became less friendly. "I was only asking because I was curious. The two of you are just… odd together, as if there's some sort of feeling or emotion that the two of you understand that's driving you to be friends."

The young man kept silent about it, he knew what Noire was talking about but he decided not to tell her what both he and Uni were suffering from that drove them to bond together, although not even the CPU Candidate would fully understand it. _It's the look in her eyes, she's been going through what I have been suffering all throughout my life, at least the life I can remember._ Mars thought, refusing to make any comments towards Noire's words, other than a grunt and a shoulder shrug.

"Tch. Fine, it wasn't as if I was trying to get your opinion or anything," Noire grumbled in her tsundere way. "Still, I just want to say… th-th-thank you."

This time Mars appeared stunned. He glanced over at Noire with a look of shock in his usually deadpanned expression. "What do you mean by 'thank you'? Why are you thanking me all of a sudden?"

"It's because of Uni," Noire responded, her expression becoming mixed with sadness. "Before you came along my sister was, well, she was just distant, always preferring to be alone with her guns and spend time with everyone else when needed, even Nepgear had trouble getting Uni out of her shell at times. Uni wasn't always like that though, after she was born I had been thoroughly training her to be the perfect CPU, from battling monsters to working day and night with paperwork that kept the nation up and running. I don't know what specifically happened, but Uni became more distant from everyone and preferred to do everything by herself, which was a good thing until became more determined, more distant and hard headed."

As Mars nodded, listening to all Noire had to say, the Goddess of Lastation continued, but this time it was about her attempts to make Uni like her. "Although, all I do is just make her work really hard to catch up to my level, which she is still far behind, and edge her on to catch up with my level of expertise; it's the only way she'll become a great CPU like me," the raven haired CPU continued.

 _I'm not surprised about Uni being distant and hard headed at all, Noire has put her through some tough training regiments that have really made her feel terrible, then that Tsundere Queen goes and finishes everything without a sweat. No wonder Uni has low confidence and self-esteem._ Mars thought as he sighed. He stared at Noire with a monotone look on his face. "So she's a little brighter, is that what you're saying?" he asked. When the CPU nodded. "Well that's good and all, but you need to recognise a part of the problem that caused it in first place: you."

This time the Lastationite Goddess looked at Mars with an overly shocked expression, which was soon replaced by outrage. "What do you mean by that?! I've been helping her to be like me, even to make her become better than me. Just how can that be a bad thing?! If she is supposed to become the next CPU then Uni has to do her greatest to the best of her abilities!"

Mars walked in front of Noire and glared at her, stopping the goddess in her tracks. He seemed serious with what he had to say. "Your relationship with Uni is in a steady decline because of your expectations towards her. Uni is living in your shadow, trying to become like you but failing due to no confidence in her abilities and no self-esteem for herself, she attempts to try and win some sort of praise from you but all you do is give her the 'tough love' act and instead of making her feel as if she has to do better she becomes more depressed. Think about it for a while."

The young man then stormed off, leaving a bewildered Noire by herself to contemplate all that he had said. _So he really does care for Uni. I… I actually don't mind it, I don't mind it at all. Those two are close after all. Still, what Mars said… urgh, screw him._ Soon afterwards the CPU ran after Mars as they entered the Basilicom, but instead of resuming the conversation with the young man Noire headed straight to her room, making Mars a little confused.

Despite the oddity of Noire's departure Mars gave it no further thought, aside from thinking about the strangely thoughtful look on her face, the young man decided to make his way to Kei's office to drop off the shopping, the coffee machine and the copper ore for the Oracle to deal with on her own. On the way to Kei's office Mars' phone began to ring, which confused the young man for a moment. Only three people in all of Gamindustri knew his number: UNi, Nepgear and a person he sometimes wish was dead. The shaggy brown haired man picked up his cell phone and pressed the 'answer' button after checking the number of the caller, his expression was grim and uncertain upon seeing the number. "Who is this?" Mars asked harshly.

"It's me, Pelagius the Toymaker, the one you shot in the kneecaps before smashing them with your booted feet," the caller replied, a grunt of pain soon followed. "I mean, seriously, I knew that I deserved it but did you really have to smash my kneecaps in with your feet? Being shot in the head would have sufficed."

Mars snarled viciously, his teeth clenched tightly in anger. "Shut the fuck up. You should be glad that I put the happiness of others before my own desires, that is how it has always been for me."

"Is that really the truth? Perhaps it is because you have been influenced by Lady Black Sister due to the few months you two have spent together," the Toymaker replied before returning to his pained groans, the sounds of wheels against tiles could be heard from Mars' end. The Toymaker of Lowee was in a wheelchair with broken knees that were almost impossible to operate on. The news had spread across Gamindustri like wildfire, everyone who knew him had been shocked that a man had shot both his knees before stomping on them; no one knew who did the deed though, the Toymaker reported that it was some stranger in a black jacket and hoodie with a concealed face and stank like alcohol.

Mars decided to ignore the Toymaker's questioning and ask a different question. "So, how's your wife handling the news, as well as your child?"

Pelagius sighed sadly before answering. "Not well I'm afraid, I think she almost had a heart attack upon hearing the news, mind you this was all while she happened to be giving birth to our child; she almost died of childbirth thanks to you. Although Margaret is well at the moment, as well as our little girl. Our child, Rose, looks just like Margaret. I'll sent you a picture if you like."

"No thanks, I'm not a big fan of crying, sweaty babies; they never seem to shut up," Mars responded as he turned around a corner and walked down a flight of stairs. "Anyway, aside from telling me how much pain you are in as well as the state Margaret and Rose are in, why have you called me?"

"Information about Project Mars." The Toymaker sounded serious, and so did the expression on Mars' face. "After you so kindly smashed my knees in you said you wanted information about the Project, so I've been doing a little research in my spare time and have found a few things that failed to get deleted or destroyed. Old documents, files and images, all those sorts of things, although it mainly is just a load of rubbish. However, I found some of my old notes from when I was a part of the Project, and there's a passage about you in it."

"What does it say? Tell me!" the young man demanded. He had stopped walking and was now leaning up against the wall.

"Well, I believe it is you, hard to tell but the description does fit a younger you." Then came the rustling of paper as the Toymaker searched through his findings before he reported to Mars about the part in the notes about the young man. "It says: 'Got a new kid in today, the scouts refused to mention where they picked him up, but it sure looked like the kid had been through hell and back. Scruffy brown hair, blue eyes filled with anger, a worn out expression on his face; no idea what happened and I care less. Maximilian took an interest in the boy, kept glaring at him while mumbling about something. First impression from the kid was one full of hostility, kept refusing to answer questions and the like, couldn't even tell us his age, although we rounded it up to at least nine or ten to twelve years of age. The Director ordered for us to wipe the kid's memory so the rest of the team could begin the 'Hatred Stage'. Let's hope he survives the ordeal, this could take years, especially since we'll have to keep erasing his memory for all the anger to take hold so the kid can become the greatest and most dangerous weapon.'"

Mars rubbed his temples, speechless at the news. Eventually the young man sighed deeply and felt tinges of pain in his heart and scars. The small yet important piece of news about the young man's obscure past had made his breathing pattern even more irregular, less air was going into his lungs and more were escaping from them. "So, you're saying that I've been a test subject of Project Mars for almost ten years? I… I don't know what to say about it. Almost ten to fifteen years of my life, gone thanks to a memory wipe? A 'Hatred Stage'? What's that?"

Pelagius grunted in pain as he wheeled himself down the hallways of his home's main corridor. "The Hatred Stage was meant to instill huge amounts of rage and hatred into a test subject by torturing them, afterwards they would have their memory wiped but the negative emotions would remain. That is why you have large gaps in your memory. It was meant to create a new generation of gods and goddesses, for what purpose I do not know, barely any of us were informed about the main goal of Project Mars." He then sighed sadly. "I know an apology is out of the question for you, but I am truly and completely sorry for what happened to you."

"Shut up, I don't need your pity," Mars growled as he massaged the area above his heart while regaining his breath. Once done the young man sighed and returned his attention to the conversation at hand. "So, anything else?"

"No, not yet. I'm still looking for the person who deleted nearly everything about Project Mars, I'll get in touch with you once I find anything." After a short silence that followed the Toymaker added a serious comment. "You should have killed me, Mars, for your sake."

"I know. Don't make me regret my decision, for your family's sake," was Mars' response before he ended the call, placing the phone back into his jeans, his mind heavy with thoughts about himself and Project Mars. With a heavy sigh the young man picked himself off the wall and walked in the direction of Kei's office.

Once Mars had returned to Kei's office he set the bags down on the ground, set the coffee machine up around a nearby powerpoint and informed the Oracle about the mission. The silverette woman was surprised about the news of a copper deposit near where the raids had been occurring, but she did show a lot of interest in it. After giving some thought about it the Oracle gave Mars a piece of paper that Noire had to sign, apparently Kei was going to open a mine around the copper deposit and she needed Noire's signature to start it up, that is why Mars was heading to the Lastation CPU's room after failing to find her in the office. As the young man approached Noire's room he thought he could hear the tsundere goddess humming happily, about what he did not know.

 _What the hell is going on in there? She's happy about something, but it's hard to tell what is happening._ Mars thought as he pressed his left ear against the door. _Hmm, if she's in a good mood it might have had to do something about that package she was carrying earlier. If that's the case then it'll mean that I won't be beaten up just by barging in._

Mars swung open the door without knocking and entered Noire's room, and was in for a surprise. Noire's room was large, overly large, in fact it was huge. Dark coloured shelves littered the walls alongside mannequins, cupboards, wardrobes, dressers and weapon stands were situated all over the walls, there was even an area where a person could change in private in case someone else was in the room. The walls were black, white and grey with a large glass window at one end of the room, the ceiling was coloured white and an AC unit was located in one of the corners of the oversized room. In the centre of the room was the CPU of Lastation herself, but there was something off about her, and it only took a few seconds for the young man to recognise that the problem was Noire outfit. "Um, Noire, what are you doing wearing that?" Mars asked, dumbfounded with what the goddess was wearing.

Noire quickly turned around and stared at Mars with wide eyes, her cheeks bright red with embarrassment. The tsundere Goddess of Lastation was wearing a short gothic lolita dress with black and white lining, a dark purple ribbon around the neck, a white undershirt with a frilly collar, frilly white cuffs. an open black jacket with dark purple buttons, dark blue stocking with white lining and black heeled boots. The raven haired goddess had been looking at herself in the large mirror, standing in different poses before Mars had barged in without warning. She yelped as her eyes met his. "M-M-M-MARS?! Wh-Wh-What are you doing here?!" Noire yelled as she wrapped her arms around herself.

The young man stood still and stared at Noire with wonder, a small tinge of red appeared on his cheeks as he proceed to stare at her exposed thighs and the shirt that constricted her chest tightly. He shook his head vigorously and mentally slapped himself to regain his composure. "Oh, um, er… I-I'm here to get you to sign... " Mars began to explain, but Noire did not seem to care about his excuse.

"I don't care! Just get out, close the door behind you and don't come back!" Noire yelled loudly as she pointed towards the door.

Mars continued stand still, staring at the CPU before him as he ignored her shouting. Finally he spoke his mind. "Hey, Noire, are you cosplaying?" he asked her in a serious tone.

Noire's entire face went red with embarrassment as she shook her head, furiously denying the allegation. "No! Like hell I'm cosplaying! Th-This isn't what it l-looks like!" Noire yelled at him. After a few minutes of awkward silence Noire spoke again, this time admitting the truth. "Tch. Fine, I'll tell the truth, no sense in hiding it after what you've seen. I… I am c-c-cosplaying. B-But don't think that this is a daily occurrence, th-th-this is a one time thing only! I-I'm not a fan of cosplaying!"

"Sure you're not, but whatever you say, Noire," Mars responded in an uncaring tone. He walked up to the tsundere goddess and looked at her sternly for a couple of seconds, he then walked off with a heavy sighed and leaned up against a nearby wall close to Noire. "Do you enjoy cosplaying, Noire?"

The raven haired CPU nodded, gazing away from the young man, her words almost quiet. "Yeah, I enjoy it. S-S-So what?"

"So nothing. If you like it then you like it. Simple," Mars replied. He gazed over to his left and saw the missing maid costume hanging up on a clothes rack nearby, the young man could not help but chuckle. "It's nice to see that you have a hobby, other than working your butt off everyday."

"Huh? Y-You're not going to make fun of me because I like cosplaying?" Norie asked, stunned that Mars was not going about his usual round of antics.

The young man shook his head, his scruffy brown hair wavering around. "That's right, I'm not going to do that. After all, why should I? We all need a hobby that speaks to our innerselves, so if you happen to like dressing up in different outfits then go ahead, I won't judge you for that… well, not much anyway."

Noire growled at Mars, but appeared to have lighten up slightly. Although she did have a question. "So, does this mean that you have a hobby as well?" the cosplaying goddess asked the young man with curiosity, yet never able to look at him despite his reassurance that he did not mind Norie cosplaying.

Mars shook his head in response before speaking. "No, I haven't got a hobby, unless doing missions for the Guild, drinking Nepsi and making fun of tsunderes are a hobby. Actually, I don't think they are a hobby come to think of it." He then sighed and continued in a quiet voice that Noire had trouble hearing. "Besides, how can I have a hobby if I don't even understand myself?"

The raven haired goddess stared sadly at Mars, barely able to hold back herself from trying to cheer him up. The young man looked sad, very sad, as if he was trying to remember something about himself but just could not. Finally, after steeling her nerves back into shape, Noire grabbed a nearby small poster, which was more like an advertisement flyer to be exact, and handed it over to Mars without saying a word, only a bright blush made the young man question what the goddess was doing. Mars took the advertisement and gazed at it for what seemed like a long time before he looked back at the CPU of Lastation, who appeared to be highly embarrassed. The flyer was advertising a convention in Sony City - a city located to the south-east of Lastation City and happened to have a trading harbour along the coast - where people could gather and show off their costumes, play games and compete in tournaments, apparently it also read that the winner of the best costume competition would win a Lastation console of their choice; all of the events seemed to be based around anime and manga for some reason. Once Mars reread the costume competition part he glanced back at Noire, who was now simply gazing at the ground.

"So, you want me to accompany you to the convention so you can win the competition, is that it?" Mars asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I-I-It isn't just because of that, y-you need some cheering up is all, that's the second reason," Noire responded, rubbing her upper left arm, her gaze finally meeting the young man's eyes for a moment, a small and embarrassed smile began to grow on her face. "Look, you need something to do, like a hobby, so maybe you can get into cosplaying. I-I-It'll be n-nice to actually… to actually have someone to do cosplaying with."

Mars would have smiled if he could, the smile that Noire was showing brightened his heart, just like how Uni would always make it flutter. With such an honest request, especially coming from the queen of all tsunderes in Gamindustri, and without a hobby to enjoy, the young man felt he should go with Noire. Who knows, maybe he would enjoy it, so long as the Lastationite Goddess signed the form for Kei to open a new copper mine. As Noire signed the paperwork Mars asked her a question that was on his mind. "Does Uni, or in fact anyone know about this hobby of yours?"

Noire shook her head. "No, she doesn't. You're the only one who knows about this." The raven haired goddess stared sternly at Mars, her eyes were looking directly at his. "So… um, d-d-do you r-really want to come to the c-convention with m-me?" When the young man nodded Noire smiled brightly, she had never been as happy like that for a very long time. _This is going to be a good day, I just know it._

* * *

Sony City was an important harbour city, rich with trade, famous for the main branch of the company that helped create Lastation's consoles and now it was being used for what was essentially an anime and manga festival for cosplayers from all across Lastation, even a few people from the other three nations of Planeptune, Leanbox and Lowee had made the journey. The city was smaller than Lastation, it was resembled a large town instead of a city, but that did not stop it from being just as important as the capital itself. The streets were bright with fluorescent lights; dozens upon dozens of stores littered the streets; hundreds of people strolled around the place, laughing, smiling, drinking, eating, kissing. Everyone was enjoying themselves to the fullest, and it made Noire brighten up, especially since she and Mars just suffered a loss with the competition.

"Grrr, that should have been us up on that stage, not those two brats!" Norie cursed under her breath, clenching her right fist tightly out of anger. She and Mars had lost the best cosplay competition to two kids who had dressed up as some main characters out of a highly popular ninja anime and manga series. Noire and Mars had come second with their gothic lolita and butler outfits, much to the raven haired CPU's chagrin.

"Well maybe if you had shown more of your thighs and the shirt that constricted your chest then we could have won the competition," Mars responded, glancing at his companion with a raised eyebrow.

Noire's response was rather typical of her: the CPU of Lastation blushed madly, gazed away and pulled up her stockings to hide more of her thighs so Mars could not see them. "Sh-Shut up, pervert! Don't make me slap you for your pervertedness!"

Mars shrugged in an uncaring way. "Meh, wouldn't be the first time I'd be slapped for 'pervertedness', Uni usually does that to me while blushing like crazy whenever I compliment her, just like the time when I said she had a good looking butt."

The young man soon wish he had not said that. Noire turned her head around swiftly and glared viciously at him, she grabbed him by the shoulders and shook the young man back and forward violently. "You what?! You say Uni's b-b-butt?! When?! How?! Why?!"

The butler-looking young man grabbed Noire's arms and forced her back, he sighed and regained his posture while straightening his costume. "It isn't what you think it is, Noire. Technically I haven't seen her butt, but I like to tease her is all. There isn't anything to worry about, I wouldn't be a complete and utter pervert towards Uni, in fact if anyone were to do that to her then I'll teach them a lesson."

Noire stared at Mars, surprised to see a serious expression on his face. He was being honest, mostly at least, but he was being serious about looking after Uni from perverts. The raven haired goddess could not help but chuckle in amusement. "Oh my, Mars, I had no idea that my little sister meant to much to you. Do you like her or something?" Noire questioned the young man, turning the tables against him as a cheeky grin formed across her face, her arms crossed beneath her breasts.

The brown haired man stuttered his words involuntarily as he attempted to answer Noire's question, eventually he gave in and sighed heavily. "Look, what I'm about to say is personal to me, so don't tell anyone what I am about to tell you. Understood?" Noire nodded, agreeing to the terms laid before her. Mars sighed again as he stood up straight. "Alright then. You see, it isn't as simple as 'liking' Uni in any sort of way. She's my fr-friend, I'm not used to having friends so I'm sorry for stuttering like that. Anyway, the reason why I'm caring towards Uni is because I owe her a lot. I owe her for all those moments that she helped me, gave me a place to stay, gave me food and drink, and just about everything really. I owe Uni big time, and looking out for her is just a way to attain that goal." Mars then glanced away, an embarrassed expression adorning his face. "Also… I just like being with her."

The CPU of Lastation could not help but smile brightly in response to Mars' explanation about his closeness to Uni, it did warm up her heart knowing that the young man truly did care for the CPU Candidate, and not in a perverted way like some of the few men in Gamindustri always thought of. _It's actually good to hear that from Mars, it isn't everyday that someone would say anything like that with honest intentions, not that I would give anyone a chance in the first place._ Noire thought as the two of them began to walk once more down the brightly lighted street. _Still, it sounds as if Mars might have some feelings for her… maybe. Although it sounds as if he doesn't understand his own feelings, if he has any._

Together Mars and Noire strolled through the streets of Sony City, taking in all that the convention had to offer. Food, drink, games, it mattered little to them. After walking around the city for about two hours Noire and Mars arrived inside a store filled with anime, manga and other relatable merchandise; Noire's eyes were wide and her smile was bright. "This is amazing!" she exclaimed, her voice full of excitement. The raven haired, gothic lolita-wearing goddess ran up to a shelf full of the latest manga and began to skim through it, her excitement never going away.

"You like anime and manga?" Mars asked, somewhat surprised. After a few seconds of thought he quickly realised that the answer to that question was rather simple.

Noire glanced at the young man, an embarrassed expression adorned her face as her cheeks blushed red. "Y-Y-Yeah, I do. It's how I got into c-cosplaying in the first place," the goddess replied. Not long afterwards Noire gazed back towards the manga book in her hands, her attention fully stolen by it. "How about you go and find something in here that interests you, if anything here could manage that."

The young man raised an eyebrow and walked off, deciding it was best to not comment on Noire's choice of wording. He left her behind and roamed down the aisles, glancing at the different manga books, light novels and posters that were spread all over the shelves, stacked neatly in order from issue to issue, all in different sections in the store. There were small signs over each section, giving small descriptions of the genre the products were associated with. Mars skimmed through a few light novels with disinterest, not completely caring about what he was looking at. Nothing seem to interest him at all, that was until he reached an obscure corner of the store and found himself in the errotic section. Mars glanced around with curiosity, his gaze falling upon the different manga, anime and light novels that were stacked on the shelves, the front covers left little to the imagination.

"Huh, interesting," was all Mars could say. The young man picked up one of the manga books on the shelf and began to look through it, once he reached a certain page his eyes shot wide open with shock. "Whoa… so that's what hentai looks like. Should I get this for Uni? Maybe even Noire? It'll give them something to 'think' about." Mars tilted his head sideways as he viewed an overlly errotic image, his mind was sent racing with all sorts of thoughts.

"Think about what?" Noire called out as she approached the young man. When her eyes found the sign in the obscure section her face flushed red, especially when she saw what Mars was looking through. "Wh-Wh-What?! A-Are you reading errotic manga?!"

The young man shrugged. "Hard to say. Want to see if it is one?" the young man asked, extending the errotic manga towards the tsundere goddess, who naturally refused it by threatening him in all sorts of ways. Mars chuckled and placed the book back on the shelf before returning his gaze to Noire. "Don't worry, I wasn't going to give it to you. So, you picked something out?"

Noire nodded after regaining her composure. "Indeed I did, I also took the liberty of getting something for you since I guessed that you would fail to find anything of interest." The goddess then took off for the counter, flicking her left twin tail as she made her way there. "Well come on, we haven't got all evening."

Noire had not bought much, instead what she chose was the latest volume of some sort of manga with the words 'Hero Academia' in it while Mars had a manga volume that involved a guy picking up girls in a dungeon; the tsundere CPU explained that the whole concept was right up Mars' alley. It did not cost much due to the sale that was occurring, so Mars decided to get a few more volumes of the manga he was given, initially surprising Noire at first. Once they left the store and continued down the street the young man straightened his bowtie and looked at the plastic bag that he was holding in his left hand. "Hmm, maybe I should have gotten something for Uni, maybe even Kei too," he mumbled to himself, unaware that Noire could hear him.

"That wouldn't be a good idea, I don't want the two of them to know that I like this sort of stuff," Noire explained, her grip on the plastic bag in her hands tightened. "I don't want either of them to make fun of me."

"I doubt that would happen. Sure, it would be a big shock to them, but they'll accept it, I'm sure of that," Mars responded as he gazed at the raven haired CPU next to him, making her blush and look away from him. Suddenly the young man's eyes narrowed suspiciously and he turned around swiftly, his eyes gazed at everything and everyone behind him and Noire.

The tsundere goddess stopped walking and looked at him with a concerned expression. "What's wrong, Mars?" Noire asked him.

Mars took one last glance around him before giving up, he sighed and looked back at Noire with his usual monotone expression returning. "Nothing. It's nothing to worry about, Noire, I just thought we were being followed."

"How the hell am I not supposed to be worried about that?!" Noire replied as she gazed around swiftly, her eyes darting from person to person, object to object.

Mars shrugged in response. "Well, it could be just my old defense senses kicking in again, they've been rusty ever since I got comfortable with living in your Basilicom for the last few months. About time I started to get it back, especially after that little incident in Planeptune with that War God."

The Lastationite Goddess grimaced as she remembered the incident, the way that Uni had described what happened that the effects that Planeptune felt. For the last few weeks Noire had been looking into any War God related appearances as well as attempting to figure who they really were, who they worked for, what they were really up to and, most important of all, why they were just like Mars. She had found little about them, much to her annoyance, but the CPU had noticed that War God sightings had started to increase in certain areas around Gamindustri, mostly around mountains, highways and the outskirts of cities. It was as if they were looking for something while slowly disrupting society. Noire had not told Mars about it because she believed, correctly, that the young man would run off into the wild to try and find them.

 _Mars may be tough, but from what happened in Planeptune I doubt he would survive another encounter, especially if there's more than one._ Noire thought as she and Mars turned down a street, finding themselves in a street that was closed off to vehicles, leaving the place to be taken over by open stores and booths; this was the place where the lights shone more brightly and more people were gathered together than anywhere else in the city. Much to Noire's excitement she saw an open store filled with all sorts of costumes ranging from outfits seen in anime to everyday clothing; the CPU's eyes were wide with excitement as she grabbed Mars' right wrist and ran towards the store.

"Whoa! Steady on, Noire!" Mars exclaimed as he was forced into the store, Noire leading him all the way.

"But just look at all the different costumes, there's so many of them!" the raven haired goddess attempted to explain as she let go of the young man's hand and began to explore the outfits. "We can spend all day cosplaying as different characters, like this one." She was holding up a priestess costume with white and red clothing, gold lining and red accents around the drooping sleeves.

"Yeah, maybe so," Mars said as he began to search through the different cosplay outfits that were available in the racks, a weird sense of fun swirled around his mind. _Maybe this isn't so bad after all, maybe I will do this sort of thing more often._

As Mars and Noire searched through the different costumes they failed to notice an oversized raven watching them from a distance atop a convenience store, it's green staring sternly at the young man, confusement swirled the raven's mind. Soon afterwards the raven glanced down a nearby alleyway and spotted a shadowy figure watching Mars and Noire, taking pictures with a camera of the two. To the raven's surprise the shadowy figure appeared to be wearing a purple and pink robotic suit, he or she also seemed to be floating just above the ground as small jetpacks built within the back of the suit kept the person afloat. After a few minutes the figure floated away, seemingly content with the pictures he or she had taken.

The raven narrowed its eyes at the figure in distrust. _Annonydeath. I thought he was dead. Well, whatever comes from this is not going to go well with either Mars or Black Heart._ The raven thought to herself before flying off into the falling sunset, content with its observation. She wondered what the new day will bring, good and bad, for Gamindustri, and Mars.

* * *

 **A/N: Took a little longer than I would have liked, but it's finally done. I apologise for those reader who prefer shorter chapters, this one was crammed with all sorts of goodies. I did consider breaking this into two separate chapters, but that only happened after I got to the end of it - I know, I'm not the best forward thinker around. Stupid brain. Anyway, you readers didn't expect a chapter focused on Mars and Noire together did you? Will Mars become a cosplayer like that tsundere goddess? Maybe, yet maybe not. Regardless, if you have suggestions or requests please do inform me and I'll read you all later.  
**


	22. These Feelings Deep Within

**Chapter 21: These Feelings Deep Within**

"Listen, I know you're my friend and all, but do you really need to accompany me inside the Basiliocm once we get there?" Mars asked Black Sister as the CPU Candidate of Lastation carried the young man across the glistening blue sea towards the large island of Leanbox. The wind was blowing across their faces, sending Mars' scruffy brown hair flying behind him while Black Sister's silver hair drills flutter behind her as well. "What's your angle, Uni? Usually you would just let me be."

"I haven't got any ulterior motive behind this, so just shut up and accept the fact that I'll be accompanying you to see Vert. It is for your own safety, after all," Black Sister replied with a scolding tone, her arms tightened ever so slightly around the young man's arms. The Candidate of Lastation had her arms wrapped underneath Mars' arms around his armpits, she was holding him close to her body as her chest was up against his back.

Black Sister was feeling tense, that much was clear, but what she was tense about the young man did not know. However, Mars felt as if he should ask ahead and find out what was bothering the tsundere CPU Candidate of Lastation. "What's bothering you, Uni? You seem a little bit tense, so I'm kind of worried about you now."

Black Sister looked at Mars with a surprised expression, her words were stuttering as she spoke. "Y-You're worried about m-me? Wh-Why is that? There isn't any reason to be worried about me. Besides, I thought you never cared for anyone, a-at least not in a friendly way, or s-s-something like that at least."

"But I do care, why else would I still be living in the Lastation Basilicom with Kei, Noire and of course you? I do care about you, Uni, I really do mean it when I say that. In fact, I guess the main reason why I'm still living there is because of you. Th-Thank you for… just thanks," Mars said as he became embarrassed, his cheeks flushed a light shade of red as his gaze, which was once on Black Sister, moved away towards the city that was appearing in the distance.

The silver haired tsundere blushed brightly and Mars noticed that her hands quickly began to fidget nervously, the young man could sense that she was embarrassed and it was only a matter of time for Black Sister to unleash a piece of her tsundere nature against him. True enough Mars was right. "I-I-Idiot, d-don't just say all of that stuff like… like, well, l-like that. F-F-F-Flirting w-won't get you anywhere!"

Mars chuckled, shaking his head as he did so. "No, I"m not flirting with you, Uni. As a matter of fact I doubt I would even be able to flirt with you or anyone, I just don't understand how to do that sort of thing."

"Well, you don't do it intentionally, that's for sure," Black Sister mumbled quietly, forgetting that Mars could hear her not only because of the distance but because of his accurate hearing skills - which was something that everyone kept forgetting at the best, and worst, of times, just like then. Black Sister only noticed this as Mars had turned his head around and glanced up at her face with a questioning look. The silverette CPU Candidate swiftly glanced away from Mars' gaze as her cheeks fired up bright red, she then began to mumble to herself before speaking to the young man again. "Th-That doesn't m-m-matter right now. A-Anyway, why must you go to Leanbox? Does it have something to do with that plastic bag you're carrying?"

Mars nodded hesitantly. "Y-Yeah, it does. You see, I kinda got into a bet with Vert during a match on Four Goddess Online when my rogue class character engaged in a deathmatch with her enchanter class character, as you can guess I lost, miserably. Now I have to act as her personal butler for the day, or at least until she believes I can stop; either way it'll go for around a day."

"Hmph. You are truly a one of a kind idiot, Mars; this is why I always have to look out for you. This stupid bet you got yourself in is now the main reason why I'm going to be with you in Leanbox, so I can make sure that nothing weird, ridiculous or lewd happens." The CPU Candidate let out an audible huff and refused to any anything else, even when Mars gave her an unconvinced look. Eventually Black Sister succumbed to peer pressure and began to continue to explain her motives. "B-Besides, we haven't been doing m-mission as of late, not to mention that we haven't been hanging out t-together."

Mars finally felt as if he understood what was going on through Black Sister's mind. "Ah, so you're feeling lonely, am I right?" He was met with an ominous silence as the Candidate of Lastation refused to glance at him. Eventually Mars sighed and shook his head, he did not seem impressed about something. "Uni, why have you been avoiding me lately? It's been a few weeks, at least two or maybe three, since the convention in Lowee and ever since then you have been avoiding me like the plague. Why is that? Did I do something wrong?"

"Um, w-w-well, it's just… er… i-it's nothing. Th-There isn't anything to worry about," Black Sister replied nervously, her hands twitched slightly as her grip on Mars tightened. It was clear that something was wrong with her, but Mars knew better than to continuously question the drill tailed Candidate; the last time the young man did such a thing he ended up getting punched in the face - he did get a hearty apology and a special magazine about guns from the mini tsundere herself afterwards.

The rest of the journey to Leanbox City was silent between Mars and Black Sister, awkwardly silent in fact. Something was wrong with Black Sister, yet Mars knew that if he continued to question the tsundere CPU Candidate then he would undoubtedly have been given a violent response, although it was something he was becoming accustomed to, considering that he was living with two tsunderes who were workaholics yet had different personalities. The young man would not fully admit it but he was rather concerned for the silver haired Candidate, especially since her behaviour of late had made Mars wonder why she was keeping her distance from him; he could not think of any reason besides something he might have said that would make the Candidate stay away from him. Mars had considered asking Noire about the problem at hand, but he stopped himself from asking the question for whatever reason; he did not know why though, but the young man guessed that his subconscious convinced him that it was a bad idea. Mars did not even ask Kei for advice, and he would usually ask her about anything.

After a couple of minutes Mars broke the silence as a question was burning through his mind. "Hey, Uni, has Noire been easy on your duties lately?"

"Huh? What do you mean by that? I have to take things seriously if I want to be as good as Noire, even better than her in fact. I have to try my hardest to surpass my older sister at any cost to myself, I just have to," Black Sister replied sternly, her expression was a serious look as she stared at everything before her. The CPU Candidate was determined to surpass her role model, almost too determined from what Mars could tell, it did make him more than worried about the silver haired Candidate.

It took a while after the end of their conversation for the two to arrive in Leanbox City, but when they did finally fly over the capital of the Land of Green Pastures the silence between Mars and Black Sister continued, even as they made their way towards the Leanbox Basilicom. The two of them landed on the oversized white balcony where they were surprised to see someone waiting for them, from what they could see it appeared that the person - a woman - did not appear to be too pleased to see the young man. The woman had very long, curly mint colored hair that was worn in a high ponytail with a black and green twin-bow piece, a few bangs and long curls of hair framed her face, her eyes were an almond-red color. She was wearing a revealing black dress with long boots and gloves that ended at her wrist, a black neck piece with a white sphere in the center that has a small green x in the center and two small pieces of purple cloth were attached to the top of her dress, on both hips, Chika wore black ribbon-cloth segments that had longer cloth pieces dangling from both sides with green sparkled coloring inside, the skirt was practically non-existent on the dress, being a simple cloth in front of her lower area which left little to the imagination.

This was Chika Hakozaki, the obsessive Oracle of Leanbox. Considered a beauty yet rather childish and overly obsessive to the point of madness, Chika Hakozaki was infamous throughout Leanbox for her undying loyalty towards Vert. The mint-green coloured haired woman was a diligent Oracle, much like her counterparts in the other three nations, but spent most of her free time trying to get closer to her role model and idol, Vert. The only time the scantily dressed woman felt a hint of success was when she managed to massage an almost naked Vert's back and shoulders; that did not last too long though, much to Chika's disappointment. The Leanboxian Oracle had made it clear that she did not like Mars, publicly clear, and she was not too pleased to see the young man.

"So, you're back," Chika said sternly, her arms crossed beneath her breasts.

"Indeed I am, miss scantily clad lady," Mars responded harshly, indicating his distaste for Chika's attitude.

The Leanboxian Oracle raised an eyebrow at the young man before smirking while flashing her dress around, much to Uni's annoyance as she pouted at the Oracle. "Hmm? A scantily clad woman am I? Heh, I can't help it if I happen to be rather striking towards men's fantasies and even women's fantasies, can I?"

"Lesbian pervert. Stop flashing those green panties of yours and get back to daydreaming about fantasies involving you and Vert in your office, I'm expected to be in there with Vert by now. Good day to you, Chika." As Mars walked past Chika with Black Sister - who had now reverted back into Uni - trailing behind him they could both see the Leanboxian Oracle fuming to herself about Mars' attitude, yet there was little she could do about it, especially since he was going to be acting as Vert's personal butler for the day.

"How did you know she was wearing green panties anyway?" Uni asked with a suspicious voice, her eyes narrowed at the young man.

"I don't, I was merely just guessing. Seems like I was right from the looks of it," Mars responded as they walked through the open doorway and into the Basilicom proper.

Once inside the Basilicom Mars and Uni found themselves in a large room with green and white walls, large glass panel windows, a red carpet and a white ceiling with several chandeliers hanging down, a black YV with green and white lining was situated in one corner of the room, a matching red couch and a chair were located nearby in front of a few small bookshelves that were nailed into the wall; to Uni's surprise she saw Mars glare viciously at the books that were housed in the shelves. The two of them then ventured out of the large entertainment room and out into the large white hallway, passing by windows where the sun shone through brightly and big white doors littered the different areas, whenever Mars and Uni dared to gaze inside a few of the rooms they found that they were darkly lit and filled with cardboard boxes, some of which were open. Filled with curiosity, Uni walked into the room and began to look through the closest cardboard boxes.

"What the heck is all this?" Uni mumbled as she searched through the cardboard box, suddenly she felt something hard inside the box, several book-like objects were piled inside in neat piles. The black haired Candidate pulled out one of the books and opened it to a random page, it was then that her eyes shot wide open and she dropped the book with a loud yelp. "Wh-Wh-What the hell has Vert been r-reading?!"

"Let me guess, it was a book with two guys kissing, wasn't it?" Mars asked. When Uni nodded the young, brown haired man sighed and patted the Candidate's back sympathetically. "I thought so. At least you never had to read it to Vert, that is most unpleasant."

"You had to read that kind of yaoi crap to Vert?" Uni asked as she exited the room and closed the door behind her.

Mars nodded sadly. "Unfortunately yes. It was when I had to stay here for three days after I lost a match in some sort of Lastation shooter game around… oh, I think it was around a couple of months ago, maybe three or just over. Whoa, has it been that long since we first met? It feels like a lifetime ago since you first found me in a cave full of Ancient Dragons, I still remember that day very well, especially how that HDD swimsuit of yours looked pretty good around your butt."

Uni glared at the young man as she growled at him, her hands moved downwards to her butt as she covered her backside with her hands, a scolding look appeared on her face. "Why you…. Grrrr! Why do you have to be such a pervert?! My HDD uniform is not a swimsuit, it is designed for mobility as well as defence. Also, can you stop saying perverted things about my butt? I hate it when you do that!"

Mars shrugged innocently. "What? I can't help it if I think you have a nice butt. After all, you did give me a good view of it when you landed on my face during our first Guild mission together. True, it wasn't much of a view, but it was a nice feel."

The CPU Candidate of Lastation finally snapped. "Y-Y-You idiot! I told you to not continue on with that! Pervert!" With that Uni slapped Mars across the face, sending the young man through a door and into some cardboard boxes as he fell to the ground, some cardboard boxes were sent hurdling around as they spilled their contents onto the floor as well as Mars. As the scruffy brown haired man attempted to get back up while groaning, books of yaoi content which had landed on the young man's body fell off slowly, he could hear Uni fuming behind him. "You are such a damn pervert! And to think I… I… p-p-pervert! Stay away from me!"

"Uni... " Mars attempted to say, but his words were soon cut off short by the shelves on either side of him collapsing on of of his head, the forceful impact of the shelves against his head knocked the young man out. Mars was thus left by himself in a spare room that was darkly lit with yaoi books, cardboard boxes and shelves on top of him. Uni, meanwhile, had left the young man without knowing what her slap had done to him.

* * *

"Fuuuh… huh? Wha? Where am I? Why is it so dark in here?" Mars grumbled in a sleepy tone as his sight returned to him to reveal a white ceiling with a chandelier hanging down nearby, but the lightbulbs in it were off, in fact the entire room was darkly lit, save for a corner where lights were shining bright from several computer monitors. Mars groaned as he felt a jab of pain in his head from when the shelves had landed on him, the young man attempted to rub the pain away but it was of little help. "Gah, damn it, Uni. Why did you have to go and slap me like that?"

The young man rubbed a hand through his scruffy, unkempt hair as he tried to get off the bed which he had found himself on, once he got onto his feet the young man stumbled around for a short moment until he caught hold of a sturdy bookshelf. Mars shook his head vigorously before he regained his footing. "Uuuuhh, damn it all, damn Uni and her violent tsundere outbursts. Wait a moment, is this Vert's room? I guess that explains why it's so dark in here."

Mars walked up to the only source of light in the room to see the blonde Goddess of Leanbox sitting on her comfy, swirly green chair, a set of headphones with the Leanboxian symbol printed on each ear cover along with a small microphone was on her head, her attention was fully focused on the main computer screen before her while an Lbox controller was in her hands. The young man noticed a mug of cold tea beside her mousepad while a half eaten sandwich was on a nearby plate, from the look of it Mars guessed that the sandwich and the mug of tea were at least a day or two old.

"Just how long was I out for? Hopefully not that long," Mars mumbled as he shook his head in disapproval. The young man sighed while continuing to shake his head as he shook Vert about, but this did little to gain her attention.

Eventually the young man rubbed his temples and let out an annoyed groan before raising his right fist up with the intent of smashing it down onto the desk, and that was what Mars did. The blue eyed citizen of Lastation slammed his clenched right fist down onto the desk with such force that sparkles of Anti-Energy went flying from his hand; the cold mug of tea and the half eaten sandwich were sent hurdling off the desk and onto the ground, creating quite a mess on the ground. However, it all did manage to gain Vert's attention. The gamer goddess glanced over to her right and saw Mars staring sternly at her. "Oh, Mars, I see you are finally awake," Vert said as she beamed a small smile while taking her headphones off.

"Well ain't that obvious to see? Of course I'm awake. Anyway, mind telling me how I ended up in your bed? I hope nothing lewd happened to me when I was unconscious," Mars asked as he walked over to the nearest green curtain and moved it aside swiftly, lighting up the room brightly with sunlight, much to Vert's discomfort at first.

Once the gamer goddess had recovered her sight she was able to reply. "Well, you were knocked out for at least two hours, in fact I think it might have been close to drawing to three hours before you woke up. After you were rendered unconscious by Uni's surprisingly hard slap, and by the shelves that fell onto you, Chika brought you to a guest room, but I insisted that you had to be brought up here so I could keep an eye on you, although Chika did seem a little unhappy with that arrangement for some reason. After I managed to get you to my room I began to play Four Goddesses Online; I was just doing some solo missions to further level up my character. How are you feeling now?"

Mars rubbed his forehead gently and sighed. "I think I'm fine, physically at least; I can still feel a bit of pain in my noggin though." After rubbing his forehead the young man glanced around him, finally realising that someone was missing, someone close to him. "Hey, where's Uni at?"

"Hmm? Oh, Uni? I believe she is in the entertainment room at the moment, probably playing a game on the TV," the voluptous CPU replied as she returned to her game, yet managed to keep most of her attention on the young man. "After she ran off and Chika brought you to me I went to look for that tsundere Candidate whom you had befriended, I found her in the main lobby with her arms around her legs and a depressed look on her face. I sent her to the entertainment room so she could regain her thoughts and calm down; she seemed a little distressed after I informed her about your condition, she kept blaming herself for it and all that."

"I'm not surprised, given that Uni is a tsundere," Mars sighed. From what Vert could see it appeared that the young man seemed a little saddened, he was no doubt thinking about the amount of teasing that he had leveled at Uni beforehand. When Mars noticed Vert's stern stare he narrowed his eyes at the blonde, blue eyed CPU of the south with suspicion. "What's the matter? You look a bit serious, too serious in fact."

"Hmm… Tell me, Mars, what are your feelings for Uni?" Vert asked in a serious tone, surprising the young man.

"What are my feelings for Uni? What are you talking about?" Mars responded. He did not want to get into that kind of conversation again, considering how evasive he was when Blanc questioned him about it back in Lowee. True, Mars did not fully know the answer to the question since he had no real knowledge on the matter, but after spending a bit of time in the Lowee Basilicom Library reading romance novels, all of which were trashy in his opinion, the young man had managed to gather some bits and pieces of meaning towards the term 'like'. Still, it was something that Mars felt uncomfortable talking about since he had no complete idea how he felt about the tsundere CPU Candidate.

However, Vert made no signs of letting up her attempts in knowing how her 'little brother' felt of the Lastationite Candidate. "You know perfectly well what I am talking about, my dear little brother. I'm asking if you have any special feelings for Uni."

What surprised the Leanboxian CPU was when she witnessed Mars blush slightly as he glanced away from her. The young man sighed deeply as he sat down back on the bed, his hands on either side of his head; Vert swirled her chair around to face him properly as he prepared himself. "Honestly, I have no real idea how I feel about Uni. I know that there's something different about her, as if something inside me is telling me that she's special, but… I don't know, guess there's some sort of feeling deep down for her after all."

"Is that all there is to it? No signs that you can tell me that indicate you like her? Anything?" Vert continued to ask, her curious expression refused to go away throughout the entire questioning period.

"W-Well, I do feel a little… odd around Uni as of late. Lately I've been feeling a little weird whenever I'm around Uni, usually it's just a bit of nervousness but sometimes my heart flutters whenever I'm around Uni when she's happy, other times I just want to smile, but that's impossible since I can't smile. I don't know, it's all just strange to me. I've never been like this before, I just don't know what to do around Uni sometimes." Mars sighed once more, his gaze was now on the ground by his feet. "I guess that's why I just tease Uni relentlessly so I can get over what's going on."

Vert rubbed her chin thoughtfully as she listened to what Mars had to say, and she was rather interested in what he had to say about his feelings for Uni. _So, he has no real clue as to what he is feeling for Uni, at least he has some sort of idea but does not know what to do. Does Mars… yes, yes I think he does. Hmm, I sure I can help him with this problem._ Vert thought as she began to rummage through a desk drawer she just opened.

"Huh? What are you getting out of there?" Mars asked, curious as to what the Leanboxian Goddess was up to.

"Nothing much, just trying to find something that I put in here a few days ago; I almost forgot about it up until now," Vert replied as she continued to search through the drawer, tossing aside pieces of loose paper, clips and cables in her attempt to find what she had lost. Soon afterwards the blonde haired goddess smiled brightly as she pulled out a sheet of paper from the drawer and handed it over to the young man.

"What's this? A convention for guns and all sorts of weapons and armour? And it's right here in Leanbox City's abandoned military base?" Mars asked as he read the flyer, surprised that the gaming nation of Gamindustri even had an event that involved guns.

Vert nodded. "Of course. Lastation is not the only country who has events around guns you know, we take great pride in our weapon and armours stores in Leanbox, always have and always will. Did you know that many years ago Leanbox and Lastation were rivals when it came to weapon manufacturing companies? This was decades ago mind you, so things are a little different now, but some people still like to summon up their patriotic spirit and make this country proud with their weapons and armour."

"Well that's good and all for you, but why give this to me?" Mars asked suspiciously, his thoughts were trying to pin down why the gamer goddess was giving him the flyer. Eventually he soon realised why Vert had given it to him, after she had sighed deeply due to his supposed slow mind. "Oh, oh I see. Wait, I thought I was supposed to be on butler duty for the day."

"You were, but I decided that you and Uni need to spend some time together, I heard that the two of you had been not hanging out as of late. As your older sister I must support my younger sibling's love life, no matter the circumstances." Vert then gave Mars a bright smile along with a thumbs up, making the young man blush as he glanced away. The gamer goddess could not help but grin with a cheeky expression, her fantasies were slowly drawing over to images concerning Mars and Uni.

Mars, meanwhile, was visibly embarrassed. His cheeks were red and his gaze was directed somewhere else. "I-Idiot. I'm not in a relationship like that with Uni; never have and never will."

Vert could not help but chuckle at the young man's nervousness, and his growing tsundere persona. "I had no idea you were turning into a tsundere, Mars. Looks like you have been spending too much time with Uni and Noire, I don't know if that is a good thing, considering how little friends they have between them, but I will not mind if you turn into someone like them." The gamer goddess did not seem to mind it when Mars glared at her with a slight growl, instead she giggled without concern. "Well go on then, Mars, go find Uni and take her to the fair for the day, we'll work out the butler arrangement another time. Have fun with your girlfriend today, I'll catch up with you later this evening."

"She isn't my girlfriend, Vert," Mars grumbled as he began to walk out of the large room, passing by the spilled cold tea, the half eaten sandwich, small piles of DVD cases and all sorts of books involving yaoi and games. But before he left the young man stopped and turned around to face Vert once more. "Hey, you wouldn't happen to know why Uni has been avoiding me lately, would you?"

Vert shrugged. "Not really, but knowing her it is most likely because of the affection you gave her and she gave you when you presented that doll to her as a gift; Uni isn't the best with those types of situations you know. Although I'm sure that her goal to become better than Noire has also been keeping her away from you. Regardless, have fun on your date, little brother."

"I'm not your little brother, nor is this a date," Mars responded. Once he had left the room and closed the door behind him, his footsteps echoing down the hallway, Vert sighed and shook her head with a happy smile.

 _Ah, young love; I feel old now. Actually, I've never experienced it before in reality, but I'm sure I know how love between people works, all thanks to my dating sims that I have stored on my computer and Lbox. I wonder how many babies those two will have? Will they let me keep one if anything like that happened? I suppose all I can do is just dream it._ Vert thought as she returned to her game of Four Goddesses Online.

As Vert was left to her own devices, which were rather skewered to many minds if they were to find out, Mars roamed down the hallway back the way he came, which was in the direction of the entertainment room - incidentally it was the same room that Mars and Uni first arrived in. The young man walked slowly with the flyer in his hands, his gaze darting between it and the area before him. The contents of the flyer did not explain everything from what Mars could guess, but it did explain the festival as a whole - although it was difficult to say if it was a festival at all, it sounded like more of a convention of sorts to the young man's understanding. Still, it sounded like something he was interested in, and it also sounded as if Uni would be interested in it as well.

Mars finally arrived at the entertainment room to see Uni sitting down on the couch, from what the young man could see it appeared that the CPU Candidate of Lastation had a saddened look on her face while a hand was held over where her heart was located, it also sounded as if Uni was mumbling to herself about something as well. The young man could hear what she was saying due to his hearing, although he guessed that what she had to say to herself was private so the brown haired man did his best to ignore it, but he could not help but listen to it. "Why did I have to do that to Mars? H-He was being a pervert so he did deserve to be slapped like that, but did the shelves have to fall on top of him? It's all my fault that Mars was rendered unconscious, no matter what Vert says," Uni mumbled depressingly to herself, her fingers beginning to twiddle together nervously. "Why does my heart always hurt whenever I think about Mars? This feeling… why does my heart always ache?"

The young man could hear Uni's voice start to quiver, causing him to sigh depressingly. _I need to help her, she's starting to break apart due to what happened to me. Also, what's all this about heartaches all of a sudden? Well, I doubt Uni will want to talk about it, so I won't ask her._ Mars thought as he began to walk over to the CPU Candidate with a steady pace. "Hey there, Uni. How are you handling yourself?"

Uni was caught off guard by Mars' sudden approach; she jumped slightly off the couch and fell over onto her backside, groaning in annoyance at the young man's unexpected entrance. "You idiot! D-Don't just scare me like that!" Uni yelled at the top of her lungs, causing the young man to flinch and take a few steps back. Once the Candidate had recovered her expression turned from angry to embarrassed as she saw Mars' slightly grieved look. "I-I-I'm sorry, Mars, I didn't mean to… I'm sorry."

"It's alright, Uni, I should have made some sort of warning beforehand," Mars responded with a dismissive wave. When Mars noticed Uni's curious gaze directed towards the flyer in his left hand he handed it over to her. "Here, take a look at this. Vert said I can take the day off from my promise and take you to this, if you want to that is, it's okay if you say no."

Much to his amusement Uni's eyes shot wide open, a look of surprise and excitement appeared on her face. "There's a gun convention here in this city? And it goes all day long?" Uni asked, her excitement rising steadily. When Mars nodded the raven haired Candidate could no longer hold back her joy; she stood up off the ground and swiftly made her way towards the door, only stopping to look back at the young man with a bright smile. "We have to go, now! Come on already, we haven't got all day."

Mars raised an eyebrow and chuckled, steadily making his way after Uni. _Well, this is definitely going to be an interesting day with her, I just hope that I can handle it._ Mars thought to himself as he followed Uni, trying his best to keep up with the excited CPU Candidate.

* * *

The streets of Leanbox were alive with all manner of people, and none more so than in what had been previously an abandoned military base on the edge of the capital of the Land of Green Pastures. The military base had been abandoned for years, gathering dust and cobwebs from all of the disuse it had suffered. However, as of late - at least for the past few months - the abandoned military base had undergone a whole new light as dozens of civil workers completely overhauled the base to house conventions that involved weapons, armour and related to killing and defending; some workers, who happened to be ex soldiers, fixed up a tank to showcase it to the general public.

The military base had been used for the army, naturally, but it had fallen upon tough times when it was deemed unsuitable for human occupation and was thus abandoned for nature to reclaim; many people had wanted Vert to spend much of Leanbox's finances on repairing the military base, but for some unthinkable reason most of Leanbox's coffers had been spent on games. Year of negligence had left the military base to be occupied by the local monsters of Gamindustri, this would have been a problem if it had not been for the Guild, which inadvertently used the newly founded dungeon as a training ground for new Guild Agents. Over time the dungeon became so depleted that a group of people made up of normal day citizens, ex soldiers and members of the Guild put forth a proposition to renovate the military base as a place for military weapons and armour conventions; surprisingly it passed through without a hitch and the deed was done.

The military base, now fully repaired and bright with all sorts of events, was filled with people of all ages who wandered around and gazed at the different booths that were open. What surprised people was the fact that weapons - mainly guns - and pieces of armour were actually for purchase; some thought the tank was as well, but they were all disappointed that it was not. Nonetheless, the amount of people who had turned up for the convention was large, rather large in fact. Amongst the large throng of people who had turned up that day were Mars and Uni, the latter was more than excited to be near guns of all shapes and sizes, the former was just happy to see the Lastationite Candidate beam bright and joyful smiles everywhere she gazed at.

The raven haired Candidate ran up to a booth filled with all sorts of rifles that ranged from bolt-action, automatic and semi-automatic, a few even appeared to be a bit more futuristic in appearance due to the bright glowing colours that were visible along the barrels and grips. "Oh wow, this is just amazing!" Uni exclaimed with enthusiasm. "Look, there's even some gun mods for rifles over here! Hey, Mars, are you even paying attention? You're the one who suggested coming here."

"Yeah yeah, I'm paying attention all right, I was just admiring you is all," Mars replied in a cheeky tone, much to Uni's embarrassment.

As she fumed furiously at the young man the vendor, an old man with a grey moustache and a cheerful grin, could not help but chuckle at the two of them. "Ah, young love. The two of you must be pretty close, right?" he asked while brushing the grey hair over his forehead away.

"It's nothing like that!" both Mars and Uni shouted in response, causing many onlookers to gaze at them with mixed expressions.

Uni stuttered to herself nervously, her cheek bright red with embarrassment, eventually she glanced away and walked past Mars. "I-I-I'm going to go and find something to d-drink, I-I'll be back soon," Uni quietly informed the young man as she passed by him.

"If you insist," Mars replied, but he doubted that Uni heard him. Once she was gone the young man sighed and shook his head. "What a tsundere," he muttered under his breath, forgetting that the old vendor was able to hear him.

"Aye, that CPU Candidate is definitely a first class tsundere, or a second class tsundere at some points," the vendor said, his cheerful grin brightening up. "I remember my time with dating a tsundere, it was a… pretty rough time for me, but I got through it in one piece; she became my wife a couple of years later. So, how long have you and Lady Black Sister been dating for? From the sounds of it I reckon you two have been together for a few months by now, am I right?"

Mars shook his head. "No, it isn't like that. True, we've known each other for at least a few months now but we aren't in a relationship."

"Do you want to be though?" the vendor asked, his right eyebrow raised. When Mars stuttered and could not answer the question, the old vendor sighed and stared at the young man sternly. "Listen, I'm not overly sure what you are thinking in that brain of yours, but I can tell that you are completely and utterly unsure about your own feelings for Lady Black Sister. While a relationship with a CPU or a CPU Candidate is unheard of, I'm sure it is something that can be worked out with a bit of negotiating. I was told that love conquers all, and I'm sure that it can work out with a mortal human and an immortal goddess; after all, it always works out in the games."

"But it isn't like that," Mars mumbled in response, his cheeks flushing bright red while he rubbed the back of his head nervously. "I-I'm incapable of feeling those types of emotions, I've never felt them before."

The old vendor shook his head and sighed deeply. "There you go again, lying to yourself again." The old man then brightened up and chuckled once more. "Look, I'll help you pick some things out for Lady Black Sister at a low price; that's a bargain you know."

The young man sighed heavily as he gazed at the large selection of rifles and gun mods before him, he then looked upwards until his eyes met the vendor's. "All right then, I think I can afford some weapon mods for myself and Uni," Mars said in response as the vendor smiled at him. The scruffy, brown haired man picked his way through the large selection in front of him, he inspected rifle barrels of all shapes and sizes, the different scopes, grips and ammo magazines that littered the plastic trays. "Hmm, I think these barrels are for pistols, correct?"

The old vendor nodded his head. "Yep, got that right. Found something for yourself then?" He watched as Mars nodded in response. "Very good then. Anything tickle your fancies?"

"Yeah, these extended barrels are good for my two beretta pistols; the range would be extended with these barrels attached to my two pistols," Mars explained as he examined the barrel extenders. Suddenly he felt someone tap him on the back gently, it turned out to be Uni, the CPU Candidate was holding a half empty bottle of water and an unopened bottle of Nepsi in separate hands. Mars was rather surprised at first to see Uni with a bottle of Nepsi, but he was thankful for her. "Hey there, Uni, nice to see that you made it back. Is the Nepsi for me?"

"Y-Yes, it is," Uni replied with a slight stutter, her cheeks slightly red as she handed the Nepsi over to Mars." I-I hope you like it."

"Don't worry about it, Uni, I really like Nepsi," Mars responded before he took a large swig of the Planeptunian fizzy drink. "Thanks a bunch. Anyway, want some weapon mods? There's plenty here to choose from."

Uni nodded, now firmly re-energised as she gazed at the guns and mods before her. Together both Mars and Uni began to search through what the booth had to offer, examining the different mods that went with their separate weapons. Uni seemed to be interested in what appeared to be plasma rounds, surprisingly it seemed that the plasma ammunition was compatible with her advanced, futuristic rifle, which was her usual weapon of choice in human form. Mars was more interested in extended barrels for his beretta handguns as well as a brand new comfort grip for his sniper rifle. It was expensive despite the lower cost they were granted, but both agreed that it was worth the cost. Although, Mars did witness how Uni would always gaze at a black rifle scope that had a green dot for better aiming purposes; the CPU Candidate would always gaze at it before looking at her credits, then she would sigh. Eventually the shopping was done, but Uni continued to glance at the advanced black rifle scope.

"Well, that was a good sale, even though I've used up almost all of my savings for these mods," Mars muttered as he placed all of his new belongings into a bag that the old vendor gave him. Once done, the young man and Uni bowed politely in the vendor's general direction. "Thanks a lot for the low prices, sir, although I would have preferred if you made them a bit lower."

"Ha! That would be bad business, my boy. Don't you know how business works?" the grey haired man chuckled with a large grin adorning his face. "Anyway, you two best get going, don't want to hog all of your time here. Have fun." As Uni and Mars began to walk away from the booth and stroll down the path towards what was once the barracks, the young man glanced back to see the old man sticking a thumbs up at him. "Go an' tap dat booty!"

 _Perverted old man._ Mars thought as he shook his head while catching up with the Candidate of Lastation, who had gotten ahead of him and was making way to what looked like a cafe. Once Mars and Uni reached the cafe they sat down on some comfortable plastic chairs around a round plastic table, ass soon as they were sitting down around the table the young man took a good look at the Candidate and saw how happy she looked. "You're pretty happy, Uni, I never thought that guns would make you this excited. What's the deal with you and guns anyway? Why like them, so much?"

Uni adjusted herself in the seat before glancing back at Mars, her joy refused to go away. "Well of course I'm enjoying myself, why wouldn't I? I just love guns, both big and small, though I prefer rifles over everything else."

"Yeah, I get that and all, but why?" Mars asked again after drinking a bit more from his bottle of Nepsi.

"Well, I guess I've always had a deep interest in guns, I suppose it was just a part of my personality when I was born by the faith of the people of Lastation. However, I did attempt to make sense of why I love guns," Uni began to explain.

"Did you ever find out why you have a gun obsession?" Mars asked after he finished off the last of his Nepsi.

"I guess that it just has something to do with how well a rifle feels when holding it, how well it performs in combat and how civilised it is in this day and age; I heard that back during a time when CPUs first arrived people fought with more archaic weapons like the kind that Noire and the others use, only less futuristic," Uni continued to explain. "I suppose that I just like how a gun operates, especially a rifle. I've helped Lastation advance with weapon technology all because of my love for guns, I was even the mastermind behind the invention of the Gauss Rifle, a sniper rifle that uses a special sort of ammunition which closely resembles the lot used with the laser and plasma rifles that we've been developing with Leanbox."

"Is that so?" Mars responded with another question, his right eyebrow raised. He was silently impressed with Uni and the invention of the Gauss Rifle, even though it sounded like a prototype, although he was interested to hear that both Lastation and Leanbox had been working on advanced weapons. "So, what's all this about Lastation and Leanbox working on laser and plasma weapons? I never heard of Noire and Vert talking about that before."

"That's because it's all hush-hush, only a few hundred or so have been manufactured for military use and an even rarer amount was created for public use, even Lowee has been shipped several prototype plasma rifles for the elite core of their rather small army to use; fortunately all of them have not malfunctioned. I think even Planeptune has started to use laser rifles for the higher ups in the military," Uni explained with a smug smile; she was silently glad to be teaching Mars about the state of affairs between the four nations of Gamindustri and their increasing use of scientifically advanced weapons, even though barely any were in use. "Anyway, are you enjoying yourself, Mars?"

The young man nodded. "Yep, I'm sure am. I honestly thought it was going to be quite bland and boring, but I'm glad that I was wrong." Mars would not openly admit it, but the main reason why he was enjoying the day was because of the CPU Candidate herself. The way she smiled brightly at him, the way she would do her best to take charge of events between the two of them, the way she would always turn into the equivalent of a hyperactive child whenever she was around all sorts of rifles and gun mods, it was all endearing to Mars. The young man sighed silently as he rubbed the area around his heart as it began to ache, his thoughts ever on the Candidate before him.

Uni noticed his odd behaviour and began to grow worried for the young, brown haired man. "Is something wrong, Mars? You look like you're in pain or something."

"Huh? Oh, no I'm fine, really," Mars responded unconvincingly, making Uni stare at him with a suspicious gaze. Soon afterwards the young man stood up out of his seat suddenly without warning, causing the CPU Candidate of Lastation to become more than confused. "Huh? Where are you going, Mars?"

"Don't worry about a thing, Uni, I just forgot something is all," Mars said unconvincingly as he began to walk off. "I'll be back soon, just stay here until I get back. I promise I won't take long."

"Huh? Wh-Where are you going? Mars?! Grrr, dammit Mars, just what are you up to?" Uni was not too pleased about the young man's sudden disappearance, especially since he was acting suspicious just before he walked off to goddess knows where. The Lastationite Candidate crossed her arms and a furious expression grew on her face as her anger and suspicion towards Mars only grew. _Tch. Just what is that idiot up to? I know he's up to something suspicious, but I deserve to know what that man is up to since we're f-friends and all._ Uni thought to herself.

After waiting for around a minute Mars had yet to return and Uni was losing patience, not to mention that she was getting nervous without him around. After searching through her bag of weapon mods one more time the Candidate soon noticed someone standing nearby with a confused look on their face, their gaze was glancing everywhere around them. Uni looked at the stranger with wonder, he did not seem to be a local of Leanbox, nor did he seem to be a usual adventurer. The stranger had spiky, light orange hair, bright brown eyes and an unnatural look to his grinning yet confused expression, a strange aura seemed to flow from him. The strange man was wearing an open black jacket, a dark grey shirt with a yellow lightning bolt logo on it, camo-coloured pants, black steel cap boots with small, spikes covering the area above the toes and a brown belt was around his waist. He did not look strange, but he just felt odd.

"Hey, are you alright?" Uni asked the odd stranger against her better judgement as she stood up off her chair.

"Huh? Oh I don't know, I think I'm lost to be honest," the odd stranger replied calmly, his gaze slowly turning towards Uni. "I'm looking for a place in this base that sells artillery shells, if they have any that is. Do you happen to know where I can find any?"

If Uni was not concerned before then she was now, the Candidate had no clue as to why the strange man would want artillery shells, but whatever reason he had the man was soon to be disappointed. Uni shook her head, much to his annoyance. "No, sorry, there aren't any artillery shells for sale, and I doubt I want to know why you want them in the first place."

"Tch. Typical. People these days never have anything useful for sale," the orange haired man grumbled in an annoyed tone, the strange aura surrounding him began to become sadistic, much to Uni's concern. The strange man then calmed down slightly and sighed depressingly. "Oh well, I guess I might as well get some grenades while I'm here. Do you know where I can find some?"

Uni nodded. "Sure do, it's just down over there by the firing range, can't miss it if you get near that place. By the way, my name is Uni, nice to meet you, I guess."

"Hmm? Oh. My name is Laran, but I prefer people to call me Sir Laran," Laran replied, an unnatural smile adorning his face. "Good to meet you, Uni. Anyway, I best be off. Have fun, cutie." As he walked off, grinning brightly to himself when he noticed Uni's completely embarrassed expression. As soon as he turned down a corner and hide behind a large stone building he glanced back at her and chuckled. _She's hot, considering she's a CPU Candidate. I wonder what it would be like to have her tied up on a bench with Dogoo slime all over her body, dissolving her clothes slowly while I stand nearby with a whip? Now_ that's _an experiment! Anyway, I best get these damn weapons for the Project, wouldn't want to keep the old man from wanting to expand his reach into the newly build Colosseum of Planeptune.  
_

As soon as Laran disappeared from sight Uni noticed Mars was approaching her, he did not seem to notice the short and odd conversation between the CPU Candidate and the unnatural man, but if the young man did notice it then he showed no interest in what they had been talking about. However, Mars did notice the flustered look on Uni's face. "You alright there, Uni? You seem a little flustered," Mars asked with a concerned tone.

"I-I-I'm fine, Mars. But why did you just leave like that without explaining why?" Uni responded as she pouted at the young man furiously, her eyes narrowing at him.

"I went to go and buy this," Mars replied as he handed over a wrapped up thin, brown paper parcel to the Candidate of Lastation. "Go on, open it."

Uni looked at Mars suspiciously for a short moment before giving into temptation and tore open the paper parcel, after she had ripped it open the CPU Candidate's eyes shot wide open with shock and wonder. "How… how did you know?" she asked, barely able to even say anything. Uni was holding the black rifle scope that she had been eyeing some time before. She looked back up at Mars and was barely able to hold back her excitement. "But why did you buy this? It was so expensive that it would have cost whatever was left of your savings."

"It did, but it was worth it to see you all happy like this, definitely worth it," Mars responded nervously as he rubbed the back of his head, his gaze falling away from Uni. "You see, you've done so much for me that I just felt as if I had to do something for you; since it was obvious that you wanted this scope I thought that I could spend the last of my credits to buy it for you. I… I care for you, Uni, I just want you to know that." After an awkward silence between the two of them Mars was completely surprised when Uni, whose face was utterly red, step forward and embraced the young man in a tight yet embarrassed hug, her head resting up against his chest. Mars could feel his body tremble slightly and his heart began to pick up its beat quickly, which was contradictory to its usual low heartbeat. The young man's arms twitched uncontrollably before he was able to return the hug, his face turned red and sweat flowing down his forehead.

It was then that Mars came to the conclusion about what he was feeling right then and there; he tightened his grip on Uni and began to feel himself starting to smile as the afternoon sun warmed him up in its glow. _So then, maybe Vert and that perverted old man at that rifle and gun mod booth were right, just maybe. No, they were right. I know I don't deserve it due to what I have done in the past two years, especially because of all the people that I have killed and the families that I have ruined, but I cannot help it, I just can't shake these feelings away. I'm in love with Uni._

* * *

 **A/N: Writer's Block is such a pain in the ass, especially when it came to this chapter. As much as I enjoyed writing it I had trouble coming up with some sort of plot; hopefully I did well with that. Also got a bit of Fallout references into this chapter, spot them if you can! Anyway, how was today's chapter? Did you readers like the end to it? I sure did, I thought it was rather touching, I definitely enjoyed writing it. What will happen next for Mars? Will he confess his feelings to Uni? Or will he bottle them up like with everything else he has done? I'm afraid you readers will have to wait for the next chapter, or the chapter after that, or maybe the one after that, who knows. Regardless, thank you all for reading this story and have a good day if possible.  
**


	23. Dogoos and Perverted Scientists

**Chapter 22: Dogoos and Perverted Scientists**

It seemed like another calm day in the wildlands of Lastation as a bright sun shone its light upon the land of Gamindustri, at least from first appearances it did. There was a cool breeze flowing through the air, rustling the trees mildly, it did seem like a peaceful day, but it was far from calm and peaceful. Three figures were flying through the late early afternoon sky towards the western base of the Black Mountains, although it was more accurate to say that there were two figures flying through the early afternoon sky, one was being carried by one of the two figures. They zoomed through the sky and made their way swiftly towards the patches of trees that surrounded the western base of the Brown Mountain range, landing down upon the grassy rockland beneath. The three figures were none other than Mars, Black Heart and Purple Sister.

The three of them were were on a mission for the Guild that involved monster hunting, from what Mars could gather - since Noire was the one who picked the quest out - the mission simply stated that several migrating Dogoos, a strange species with the name 'Tetrits', a Lizard Man or two and possibly other small and creepy abominations had been attacking travellers along a holiday route up into the Brown Mountains. Once Mars, Black Heart and Purple Sister, who was the one who had been carrying the young man, were on their feet the scruffy haired man gazed around him suspiciously, his right hand gripping the handle of one of his one-handed battleaxes. To his surprise there were no monsters in sight.

"Where the hell are the monsters at?" Mars asked as he unsheathed one of the two one-handed battleaxes from his belt, his other hand reached for a modified beretta pistol that he had strapped to a belt across his upper right leg.

"Oh they're nearby, we just have to find them is all," Black Heart responded as she materialised her large, black and light blue sword and glanced around the area. "Let's get moving, I'm sure they are nearby, and waiting for us as well."

Mars chuckled in amusement as he and Purple Sister began to follow the CPU of Lastation through the sparse trees and bushes, passing by small rocky formations that led up into the Brown Mountains. "Oh come on, Noire, don't make it sound as if monsters like Dogoos and the other monsters have some degree of high intelligence, I doubt that's the case at all. Lizard Men perhaps, but not something like a Dogoo."

To the young man's surprise he looked over at Purple Sister and saw her shiver slightly, and he knew that it was not because of the weather. What surprised him, although not to a large degree, was the Planeptunian Candidate's explanation. "I wouldn't rule out the fact that Dogoos, their subspecies and other creatures similar to them have a level of intelligence, in fact I think some of them are smarter than we think. Even if a few of them are perverted they are still quite smart, and must never be underestimated."

"Yeah, I know what you mean. Little blue slimy bastards," Mars responded as he remembered the last time he and Uni went up against the little blue terrors of Gamindustri; it was a sordid affair for the two of them, all because some of the Dogoos managed to climb onto the tsundere CPU Candidate and tried to melt her clothes away, although they fortunately failed at the task. "So, how far away do you think they are? They have to be nearby."

"I can only presume that they are waiting for us, like Noire said," Purple Sister responded as she materialised her gunblade. "Let's be on the lookout, they could ambush us at any moment."

Mars nodded, his grip on the one-handed battleaxe and the beretta pistol tightened, his gaze was glancing all over the place, from the trees to the shrubbery and the rock formations that surrounded them on all sides. The trees swayed back and forth lightly, the bushes rustled in the wind, everything seemed to be fine and peaceful, but within there were monsters to be slain. The young man looked up to the east and saw the rocky formations of the Brown Mountains, the mountain range began to grow higher and higher the further east Mars gazed, then an idea came to mind. "Hey, Noire, how about I go up on one of those rocky ranges up there and act as a sniper? Wouldn't that be a tactical idea?"

Noire stopped walking ahead and looked back at Mars, she appeared to be disinterested in what the young man had to say. "While it does sound like a good plan I have to veto it. This mission was merely to allow us some breathing space for a bit of exercise, it is meant to be a little challenging yet vigorous, plus the pay will be able to restore a bit of your savings, Mars. This is going to be a short quest because I need to get back to the Basilicom and continue on with the large amount of paperwork that has found a home in my office."

"I thought Uni was supposed to take care of that, with Kei being on a business trip and all. A pity Uni couldn't come with us if that's the case," Purple Sister said as she and Mars stopped walking and stood near the CPU of Lastation. The Planeptunian Candidate glanced over to her right and saw the young man agreeing with her by nodding his head slowly, yet Purple Sister could tell that there was something else going on with him, even Black Heart could tell from the slightly concerned look in her usual prideful expression.

"Are you alright there, Mars? You look a little worried or something, it's nauseating," Black Heart asked rudely, making it clear that she did not like the young man's expression, either that or she was getting back at him for being annoying to her every now and then.

Mars, who had stopped nodding his head and was instead gazing at the ground around his feet, looked up swiftly and stuttered for a moment before answering Black Heart's question. "Huh? O-Oh. N-No, I'm fine, Noire, really I'm alright," Mars replied unconvincingly, much to Black Heart's chagrin.

"I'm being serious here, Mars. Why do you look like you're overly worried about something, and why are you hiding it from us? Ever since you and Uni came back from Leanbox you have been acting weird, especially whenever Uni happened to be nearby. Why is that?" the Lastationite Goddess asked again, this time in a serious tone and without a hint of rudeness to rile him up. "Come on, put a little faith into me. As much as you are a pain in the backside it is my duty as your goddess to help my citizens, whoever they may be, with their problems. You can tell me what's troubling you."

Mars raised an eyebrow and chuckled, amused with Black Heart's claim. "My goddess? You aren't my goddess, I clearly haven't put my faith into you. While I may be your citizen for whatever reason, I still don't know why you wanted me to be one in the first place, I… I'm not having any problems, Noire. Got it? Now knock off the questions already."

"Tch. Fine then, have it your way. I won't help you from here on out if you refuse to tell me what's wrong with you. I-It's not like I wanted to help you or anything." As Black Heart began to walk away, taking long strides ahead of Mars and Purple Sister so she could get away from the troubled young man.

Once Black Heart had disappeared into the growingly dense trees and bushes Purple Sister stared at Mars sternly, yet also with a worried look. "Mars, tell me what's wrong with you. Not because I'm a goddess, but because I'm your friend. I might be able to help."

The young man shook his head and sighed. "No, you wouldn't be of any help I'm afraid, Nepgear. N-Not that there is anything wrong with me."

The lilac haired Candidate could not help but chuckle at the young man's sudden embarrassment. "Goodness, I had no idea you were turning into a tsundere, Mars. If this keeps up I just might have to keep my distance away from Uni so I don't turn into a tsundere as well."

"Right, Uni," Mars muttered quietly, almost forgetting that Purple Sister was still listening to him. Once he realised that the young man quickly glanced away from the CPU Candidate of Planeptune and started to follow Black Heart's trail into the wilderness with a quickened pace.

"Hey, hold up! What did you mean by that, Mars?" Purple Sister called out as she swiftly followed Mars through the wilderness in a hurried manner. When she finally caught up with the young man the Candidate noticed the embarrassed expression adorning his face, it did make Purple Sister wonder what was going on with him. Suddenly she began to connect the dots, and a small smile crept onto her face. "Hey, MArs, you don't happen to like- MPH!"

"Keep your voice down!" Mars hissed quietly to Purple Sister as he dropped his axe and placed his right hand over her mouth, preventing the Candidate from continuing to speak. "Look, if you really want to help and know what the hell is going on then we can talk once we get back to the Basilicom. Goddess knows, I could use some help with what's going on."

 _So I was right, there is something going on between Mars and Uni, at least there's something about Uni that is bothering Mars greatly._ Purple Sister thought as she and Mars began to walk side-by-side together, their hands once again firmly on their weapons, their gazes stern. Soon enough they heard a yelp, which was swiftly followed by a sword slicing through a slime coated body, then came the sounds of pixels. "Sounds like Noire found the monsters we're after. Good luck, Mars."

Mars nodded once before he and Purple Sister charged through the hedges and into the fight. Black Heart was already in the middle of it all, slashing her mighty blade back and forth elegantly, swaying her body around with the rhythm of her sword, her silver hair flowing across her face and her bright blue eyes. The haughty, and rather good looking, Goddess of Black Regality was fighting it off against a few Dogoos and a Lizard Man. "Come and get some, you mangy pieces of filth! **Lace Ribbons!** "

Black Heart rose into the air and struck forward towards her opponents, she maneuvered around her foes while kicking them and striking their bodies with her large blade in an elegant manner. Once the prideful CPU landed onto the ground she flicked her silver hair as her group of enemies were hit full on by her attack, they all fell to the ground, many did not get back up. Black HEart looked back at the small carnage behind her and scoffed. "Hmph. You were all weak, pathetic really. Never underestimate the power of a CPU!"

Just then the haughty Goddess of Lastation was attacked once more, this time by surprise, catching her off guard. The attacker was a Lizard Man, a short lizard with two scaly legs and arms that wore a thin set of small steel plate armour that covered their chest, bits of their arms, legs and feet; a curved, spiked steel sword was in it right hand. Black Heart was surprised by the monster as it jumped out of the bushes, brandishing its sword while hissing loudly at the silverette CPU, the creature struck forward and slashed its sword at Black Heart, who barely managed to dodge the attack before she was hit in the stomach by the monster's scaled tail. The CPU of Black Regality was sent hurdling across the field, bumping into roots, bushes and finally into a tree, she cried out in pain before trying to regain her breath.

The Lizard Man was to give no free time to the haughty goddess. The scaly creature rushed forward and raised its weapon to strike down at the fallen goddess, but he failed to do so. Black Heart growled as she flew away, watching the Lizard Man get his sword stuck in the tree, the Lastationite CPU then proceeded to dive straight towards the scaly monster and yell as she swung her blade downwards at it, slicing the creature's head clean off.

As the Lizard Man disappeared into pixels Black Heart glanced back and glared at the disappearing matter of her former enemy. "You never had a chance to defeat me," she muttered pridefully. Her attention was soon stolen by the cries of Dogoos and Tetritses coming up behind her, Black Heart turned around and grinned as she held her mighty blade before her, then she struck at the nearest Large Tetrits.

" **Tornado Sword!** " Black Heart shouted as she charged at the nearest opponent, her blade fizzing with energy as the CPU struck, killing the monster instantly. This left room for her to swing her blade against the body of a Metal Dogoo, which was soon followed by a savage kick, sending the Metal Doggo flying across the battlefield. Before Black Heart lunged at her metal enemy she caught glance of Mars looking at her; the young man was fighting two monsters - one was a Dogoo and the other was a Lizard Man - and he appeared to be doing a good job at keeping them at bay. Black Heart smiled smugly before she returned to combat. _Heh. I'm sure Mars was checking out my sophisticated and powerful special moves. Maybe I should teach him a thing or two... maybe._

As Black Heart continued her assault and as Purple Sister maneuvered through the air, firing round of hot energy from her saber gunblade at her enemies before moving in for the kill with her blade, slicing her foes into pixels, Mars was standing his ground against a little blue ball of goo with a goofy expression and a dangerous lizard on two legs with armour and a sword. The young man snarled viciously as he swung his axe in defence against the incoming blade from the Lizard Man, meanwhile at the same time he was also kicking the Dogoo that was trying to climb up his leg, leaving slime all over his jeans. Mars growled as he stomped on the Doggo after pushing the Lizard Man away to the ground, shards of Anti-Energy erupted from the bottom of his boot all the way up to his lower leg as he crushed the slimey monster into pixels, but not before it left its signature goo all over Mars's right boot and lower leg.

"Damn slimey bastard," Mars muttered in an annoyed tone, but he barely had enough time to get the goo off himself before he was attacked by the Lizard Men who had been forced to the ground. The scaly creature leapt back onto its feet and hissed at the young man as the monster jumped at Mars. The scruffy, brown haired man snarled as he took aim with his beretta. "Come and get some, you scaly fucker!"

Mars fired round after round at the Lizard Man, bullet after bullet found its mark against the Lizard Man's armour, arms and sides of its head, yet nothing seemed to slow it down. As the Lizard Man neared Mars the young man fired another round, the last of the current magazine, at the monster's knee, crippling it. With an almighty cry the Lizard Man fell to the ground, dropping its spiky, curved weapon as the monster yelled in pain while pixels began to flow from the knee wound. The young man holstered his beretta, unsheathed his second axe and leapt forward through the air, he landed over the Lizard Man, sliced the creature's head off as well as slashing his other axe through the monster's back, severing its spine.

As the deceased Lizard Man's corpse disappeared into a mess of pixels Mars leapt forward into a throng of monsters, slashing and hacking his way through Dogoos, Tetritses and Metal Dogoo subspecies. " **Savage Strike!** " Mars shouted, slicing his opponents to smithereens before striking the ground with his axes, causing a slight tremor and red energy to burst out from him; barely any monsters survived. The young man's body, eyes and weapons began to glow blood red, his bloodlust suddenly increased, a malevolent expression crept over his face; Mars was starting to get back into killing living beings once more.

Soon enough the monsters were wiped out, leaving some breathing room for the two CPUs to recover their breath and for Mars to calm down. They were, however, soon to be disappointed. The ground began to shake, the trees shivered, the bushes swayed about, yet there was no wind, nor was there any earthquake. Purple Sister glanced around her yet saw nothing that could be causing it, but when she looked over at Mars the CPU Candidate noticed that the young man was sniffing the air, as if he was able to figure out who or what the new threat was. "Um, you alright over there, Mars? What are you smelling?" Purple Sister asked, her tone indicating that she was more than a little confused with the young man's actions.

"Hmm? Oh, I'm fine, it's just that I can smell something coming this way is all," Mars replied before he continued to sniff the air, the tremors getting louder.

"Jeez, that's just disgusting. What are you now, a dog or something?" Black Heart asked condescendingly, making it clear that she did not approve of the young man's growing sense of smell to mark out enemies.

Mars glanced over in Black Heart's direction and glared at her, his blood red eyes with the black dot pupils felt as if they were seeing into her very soul, at least it looked like it; Purple SIster wondered if they could shoot laser beams like the mecha in a manga she had previously read a few days ago. The young man shook his head in disapproval in Black Heart's direction as whatever was coming towards them got closer. "No, clearly I am not a dog, you damn Tsundere Queen. Besides, I only just started to get a good sense of smell when I got back from Leanbox around a day or two ago, not sure why but I just do now," Mars explained in an annoyed tone.

Before the CPU of Lastation could retort to the young, scruffy haired man's comment about her being a 'Tsundere Queen', whatever or whoever was coming their way showed themselves, and all three were in for a surprise. It was a Dogoo, a very big one at that, it stood at least nearly eleven feet tall with the trademark goofy expression adorning its face, yet the most surprising thing about the oversized Dogoo was its colour. The apparently new species of Dogoo, which fortunately for the three onlookers there was only one, was coloured in dark purple with blood red energy flowing through it, lighting up the eyes with the blood red energy from time to time. Purple Sister could sense that this was no normal Dogoo, even Black Heart could sense that as well; there was just something off about it. But one thing was for certain: it had to be destroyed, then the remains could be examined afterwards.

The oversized Dogoo was closest to Mars, so it chose him as the first target. The dark purple and blood red slime ball cried out it's name as it bounced straight towards the young man, who was more than welcome to kill the beast. Mars charged forward, brandishing his two battleaxes against the slimy monstrosity, the two CPUs began to outflank the massive Dogoo from the air, ready to strike when needed. The young man twirled his axes around in a furious manner, swiping the sharpe, deadly blades through the Dogoo's slimy flesh, but it did little to apprehend it. Black Heart and Purple Sister swooped in for the kill, slicing their blades against and through the monster's slimy flesh, yet nothing seemed to faze it at all, it did not even appear to be taking damage in the slightest.

"Tch. What the hell is this thing's slime made out of? Adamantium that's turned to jelly yet still contains all of its properties or something?" Black Heart grumbled as she sliced her sword through the Dogoo's flesh, watching as nothing happened. She growled in frustration as her attacks did nothing. "Come on already! What the hell is going on with this damn slimey bastard?!"

"Looks like normal attacks don't do anything, maybe a special attack or something like that could work," Purple Sister said as she flew back into the air, watching as Mars continued to hack away at the dark purple and blood red goo. "Here goes nothing. **M.P.B.L!** "

The Candidate of Planeptune aimed her weapon at the multicoloured Dogoo and fired a large, hot beam of energy into the Dogoo's body, and it had some sort of effect against the slime beast. The oversized Dogoo had taken a direct hit from the attack and suffered from a melting process, leaving it vunerable for Mars to lunge forward once more on the offensive. " **Savage Strike!** " Mars shouted once more as he initiated his special attack, his arms maneuvered furiously around as he struck the massive Dogoo's front with his axes, carving his way through before forcing the great beast back. Mars stood his ground and glared at the large Dogoo, ready to attack once again. "Is that all you got?"

As it turned out, the Dogoo had a surprise in store for the young man. The large monstrosity, despite being crippled, bounced forward and engulfed Mars into its own body, and slowly began to absorb him; strangely enough the slime of the Dogoo did not dissolve his clothes. Mars, completely surprised by the sudden attack, soon found himself inside the Dogoo, much to his overall annoyance. It was hard to move inside the monster, his eyesight had also taken a pretty big hit, everything looked like dark purple and blood red, not to mention that the young man was finding it increasingly difficult to breathe. "Mphi canphh brefffph! Fumphn Baslarph! (I can't breathe! Fucking bastard!)" Mars attempted to shout before he clenched his throat.

Black Heart and Purple Sister gazed at each other, each one of them was hoping that the other would have some sort of idea as to what to do, as it happened Black Heart had an idea, although it was clear that the Planeptunian Candidate would not like it. "Nepgear, try and use some sort of special attack against that Dogoo, preferably before it kills Mars," Black Heart said as she held her sword in front of her. "I'll try and use one as well and see how that goes."

"But what happens if we accidentally strike Mars?" Purple Sister asked in a worried tone. "I don't want to hurt or even kill him, just imagine what would happen to Uni if she heard that we killed Mars whilst trying to save him."

"It doesn't matter if he's going to suffocate to death in that oversized slime ball! We've got to- hey, you notice that?" Black Heart's gaze had returned to Mars during the middle of her explanation, there she found an odd sight with Mars. Once Purple Sister swiftly glanced in the same direction she saw what the Lastationite CPU was looking at.

The young man was still inside the oversized Dogoo, and was still slowly drowning in it, but something just seemed off about Mars, the two CPUs could tell from the look on his face. It looked like Mars was in pain, and it had nothing to do with the fact that he was slowly drowning in slime. He did seem to be frightened, the quivering of his jaw indicated that, but for what reason it was unknown, but whatever what was going through his mind was obviously causing him great pain and suffering; oddly enough the Dogoo was now staying still, the blood red energy was starting to flow out from its body and lit the creature up in a red glow. The two goddesses did not need to plan out what to do next, they already knew what to do. Both flew down and struck the oversized Dogoo carefully so they would not harm Mars, yet nothing seemed to work.

Inside the giant Dogoo, Mars was not only slowly suffocating, he was also being subjected to the Dogoo's special ability, one that none of them knew about or suspected. Mars was being forced to remember his time in Project Mars. Images of himself being chained up against a stone wall, his upper body and back was covered in fresh, bloodied scars; he was being tortured by knives, whips, fire and electricity. In the memory flashbacks the young man was yelling in pain, tears flowed down his eyes and ran down his cheeks, his entire expression read of pain and suffering. After painfully remembering his time in the torture chambers, Mars' memories was forced to remember his time in the prison cells, the bad food and water, the crappy living conditions, the badly lit corridors, the thug-like guards who took pleasure in beating the Subjects from time to time, and the abject loneliness that he was subjected to.

Loneliness, it was something that the young man had been subjected to for a long time, and it was something he had been trying to get over; being with Uni seemed to be helping with that matter, not that Mars would ever admit it. Nevertheless, Mars was suffering, his mind becoming plagued by everything he had done his best to bury and forget. The Anti-Energy that glowed around the young man's body increased as his memories of the end of Project Mars turned up, his rage continued to build up as he saw an image of the charred remains of his fallen inmates, their burnt bodies and clothing laying all over and inside the ruins of the Project Mars facility. Mars could not help but tremble in fear, his scarred memories starting to overtake his senses. Tear began to flow down his slime covered cheeks, his hands managed to clench together as Anti-Energy began to act like electricity.

 _No… NO! Not like this… not like this… leave me alone! I can't die like this, remembering my scarred past, I just can't! The memories… these goddess damned memories… NO!_ Mars yelled inside his mind, doing his best to not think about the memories that were plaguing him, but to no avail. Suddenly, much to Black Heart's and Purple Sister's amazement, Mars' Anti-Energy covered body was starting crackle up like electricity, shards of red energy flickered from the young man's body and crackled all around inside the giant Dark Dogoo's body. Then Mars shouted. " **Raging Explosion!** "

The Anti-Energy that was building up inside and outside Mars' body suddenly exploded in a fiery and crackling display, shards of blood red energy shot forth from the young man and engulfed the oversized Dogoo, increasing it size immensely before the creature exploded, sending dark purple and blood red goo all over the place. Mars fell to the ground with a squishy thud, his Anti-Energy slowly began to calm down, meanwhile Black Heart and Purple Sister were still in the air, glad that they had avoided the slimey goo. As the two flew downwards to the ground they could sense something odd, it felt just like whenever they were around Mars when his Anti-Energy was activated, but for some reason that sense of dread was coming from the goo. Once the two CPUs had landed on a patch of clean ground they looked at Mars, both seemed overly worried about Mars' current condition, especially since he was shivering on the ground.

"Are you alright, Mars?" Purple Sister asked worryingly as she approached the young man, but she quickly jumped back when Mars swiftly got onto his feet and swung an axe at her, his eyes still blood red with Anti-Energy. The Planeptunian Candidate dematerialised her gunblade and raised her hands up, trying her best to calm the young man down. "Calm down, Mars, it's alright, the fight is over now."

Mars was not listening, in fact he was having a hard time processing what was going on around him. His memories had clouded his vision, so instead of seeing Purple Sister and Black Heart he was seeing armoured guards with shock batons in a darkly lit cell. The young man was trembling with fear, the hold on his axe was shaky, his Anti-Energy was crackling all over his body in an unstable display. "St-St-Stay back! I-I'll kill you if you get near me!" Mars shouted as he continued to swing his axe around.

"What the hell is wrong with you? It's us, Noire and Nepgear for crying out loud," Black Heart explained as she stared sternly at the young man, a hand on her hip and another still gripping her sword tightly. "Get a grip on yourself already. Mars?"

After Mars blinked several times his vision returned back to normal, he could now see both CPUs before him, and both looked very, very concerned about him. It did not help matters any further that the young man was also having some aches in his heart, just like he had when he went on his first mission with Uni, fortunately for him it did not blow out of proportion like last time. However, as a result of the sudden pain in his heart sweat was now running down his face, his expression was filled with exhaustion and his right hand, which had previously held a battleaxe, was now clenching the area around his heart. The young man breathed in and out deeply for a short moment before he focused his attention on the two goddesses. "I'm… sorry about that. I'm fine now, really I'm alright."

Black Heart raised an eyebrow and stared at Mars with a suspicious look, but from all of her experience in dealing with the young man the prideful CPU of Lastation knew that it was better to leave it out of discussion and instead merely observe what happens. So instead of interrogating Mars the silver haired goddess dematerialised her sword and knelt down towards the multicoloured goo, materialised a test tube in one hand with a cork for it in the other hand, she then scooped up some of the leftover goo, put the cork in it and handed it over to Nepgear. "Here, take this and show it to Histoire, and maybe even that chief scientist of yours. Is she even around at the moment?"

"Who, Akane? I think so, though it's hard to say sometimes," Purple Sister replied as she took hold of the sealed test tube. "Do you want me to take this to them for examination?"

The silverette nodded as she took another sample for herself. "That is correct. I'll be taking this sample back with me so I can have Kei and my own scientists to examine it closely, hopefully Lastation and Planeptune are able to figure out what this stuff is, and fast. I, for one, do not want to be put through with what happened to Mars. It was as if that Dogoo had the power to induce fear into people through some sort of sick method, and maybe some other hidden power as well. That last attack by Mars though, that just felt… I don't know, but I just felt as if it was different. Perhaps it's connected to that Anti-Crystal in him."

"Yeah, maybe it was." Purple Sister looked back at Mars, who had now calmed down enough for his Anti-Energy to fully dissipate, to see that the young man was sitting on the ground with his back up against a tree, his two one-handed battleaxes were embedded into the ground near him and his sniper rifle was also leaning up against the tree just to the left of him. The scruffy, brown haired man appeared to be worn out, no doubt because of the ordeal he just went through with the now deceased oversized Dogoo.

Before Purple Sister could get near the young man she felt a black, lightly armoured gloved hand grab her by the left shoulder, she turned around to see Black Heart shaking her head in disapproval. "No, let him be for now, he needs to rest," the CPU of Lastation informed the Planeptunian Candidate.

"But he looks like he's in pain, he needs help," Purple Sister retorted, her expression becoming serious and stern.

"Well he'll no doubt be coming with us to Planeptune for the opening of the Colosseum, he can check in with Histoire and Akane - if that scientist has stopped her disappearing act that is." Black Heart let her grip on Purple Sister go as she backed off, her gaze soon fell upon Mars. "Still, I do wonder what went through his mind, I also wonder why he had chest pains. Do you think he had a heart flutter, perhaps even a heart attack?"

The lilac haired Candidate shrugged in response. "I don't know, but it did look like he was suffering from some sort of chest pain around his heart. I should tell Histoire about it, and Akane if she's around."

"Right. Now then, I think it's about time we get back to my Basilicom and get things ready for our little trip to Planeptune. You can take Mars with you to Planeptune , I'll just tell Uni that you took Mars for his weekly health check; I know for a fact that he has been avoiding Histoire for weeks to get out of having those health check ups, looks like he has realised his folly," Black Heart explained, her gaze falling once more on Mars, who was now standing up with his axes strapped to his belt and his sniper rifle slung over his back. The silver haired goddess gave one more look at Purple Sister before flying into the air.

The CPU Candidate of Planeptune sighed as she placed the test tube into her inventory and walked up to Mars. "We better head back to Planeptune, we'll catch up with Uni and Noire later once they turn up after you have your health check up. And please, Mars, just answer Histoire honestly whenever she asks a serious question, and do go along with anything she says or has to offer, I don't want to explain to Uni why you could possibly be in bad shape."

Mars growled as he pouted, his gaze fell somewhere to the right of him towards the light brown cliffs that were just near them. "Tch. Fine then, Nepgear, I'll play along."

"Come on, don't be so sad. Once you're through with your health check up you can tell me what's been bothering you lately, maybe I'll be able to help you with that as well," Nepgear said with a bright smile as she gently wrapped her arms around the young man's chest, holstering him up into the air as the Candidate flew into the sky, her destination aimed for the Basilicom of Purple Progress. Purple Sister was hoping three things: she hoped that everything with Mars was absolutely fine; the Candidate hoped that she could help the young man with his problem; and she hoped that Uni would not yell at her for whisking Mars away without letting her know about it.

* * *

The streets of Planeptune City were bright and alive, a testament to their lively nature, which they naturally picked up from their chosen goddess, Neptune. Mars could see cars driving down the different roads that connected together throughout the purple city, people walked, ran and jogged down the street pathways and children frolicked about in the city's main park. Everything seemed peaceful and normal, just as it always had been. Purple Sister flew swiftly through the air towards the tallest and largest structure in the entire city, the Basilicom of Planeptune. It had been several weeks since Mars had last been inside the giant structure, in fact the last time he had been in the Planeptune Basilicom was for a health check up, followed by a long gaming session with Neptune and Nepgear.

Mars sighed as he and Purple Sister landed on the balcony, the feeling of being lectured and chewed out by an overworking fairy who sat on a magical tome everyday did not please him, for obvious reasons. After the Planeptunian Candidate reverted back to her human form both she and the young man entered the Basilicom to see Neptune sitting on the couch with a controller in her hands, her gaze was directed at the TV screen where the CPU was playing some sort of game that involved jumping up on levels. It did not take long for the purple goddess to recognise who had just entered her domain.

"Oooh, welcome back, Nep Jr, you're home early," Neptune greeted her younger sister as she put down her controller and wheeled around on the couch to face her. That was when she noticed Mars. "Mars? Hey, it is Mars, I'd recognise that grumpy look anywhere! What's up, homey?"

Mars shrugged, it was clear that he was not in a talkative mood. Instead it was Nepgear who spoke for him. "Mars is here for his weekly health check up," the lilac haired Candidate informed her older sister. "Is Histoire around. And maybe even Akane Kimura?"

Neptune shrugged her shoulders. "Meh, I don't really know. Histy may be in her office with all that boring work, and I think I saw that big boobied Akane around the place somewhere - I think it was her anyway, she looked pretty rugged from wherever she was at."

"Thanks sis," Nepgear thank Neptune with a bright smile. She then looked over at Mars and did her best to smile at him in a comforting way, knowing that the young man was feeling uncomfortable about the prospect of having a health check up, and that he still looked pretty beat up from whatever the oversized Dogoo had put him through. "Come on, Mars, we better go and see Akane. I think Histoire would want to be left alone for a while by the sounds of it."

Mars nodded, although rather reluctantly, before his gaze fell back upon the purple goddess, he could see the worried look she was giving him. "Don't worry about me, Neptune, I'm fine," the young man informed the little, amethyst coloured eyed goddess, although Neptune could tell from the tone of his voice - which was quakey - that he was not telling the truth. But before she could call him out on it the young man had one last thing to say to her. "You should clean up in here while we're gone, Neptune, it's actually kind of messy."

"Huh? Clean up? Why would I do that?" Neptune asked with a raised eyebrow, her tone indicating that she did not like the idea of cleaning up the living room.

"Just do it already, Neptune. Uni and Noire are going to be here at some point in the near future so they can have this damn sleepover you want, and I don't want to put up with the tsundere's complaining about how the place is a mess," the scruffy, brown haired man responded with a heavy sigh. "Who knows, maybe I might play a couple of hours of a game with you after the opening of the Colosseum."

"The Colosseum? Oh yeah, that. That's happening tomorrow morning, isn't it? Well, I'll see what happens, but no promises, Marsy-Warsy." Neptune stuck the tip of her tongue out while giving the young man a klutzy look. To her surprise it looked like the young man was attempting a smile, but it never fully came out onto his face.

"Whatever, Neptune. Hey, maybe if I get this health check up over and done with I might come back and help you with all of this cleaning, maybe." Mars then began to follow Nepgear down the corridor towards Akane's room, where it was most likely to find the mysterious, country crossing scientist.

It took a short while of walking through the separate corridors but, after walking down a flight of stairs and strolling through a few more brightly coloured corridors, Mars and Nepgear finally arrived outside the lilac coloured door to Akane's room, and from what they could hear from their side of the door it sounded as if the curvy scientist had returned from her adventure. However, some of the words that they could barely hear sounded a little odd. Words like 'baby', 'oooh', 'aaahh', 'more' and 'harder' could be heard; Mars stared blankly at the door, grasped the handle and slowly opened the door to reveal Akane's room. The room was smaller than Mars had anticipated, but he never really knew what the chief scientist of the Planeptune Basilicom's room look like anyway.

The room was not fairly large, but it seemed spacious enough to house a scientist that would constantly up and run away every now and then. The walls were styled in the same manner as the rest of the Basilicom, lilac and white; the ceiling was white and the ground had a soft purple carpet. A bed was tucked away in a corner of the room next to a small set of drawers, a brown wooden cupboard was in the other corner of the room, a window was located near the bed and the blue curtains that adorned it were mildly closed with only a slither of sunlight peeking in. An open backpack was leaning up against the bed with its contents displayed all over the place, from spare shirts to jackets, to jeans to underwear and bras. Stacks of paperwork were littered across the entire room in trays, although some were not. Near the door was a desk with several computer monitors, only one was lit and was facing Akane herself, who was a little more than underdressed.

The blue haired scientist of Planeptune was wearing nothing more than a matching black bra and panties with white lining, this showed off her luscious curves and her cleavage for both Mars and Nepgear to see. Soon after this they discovered the source of the strange noises, and it was something that neither of them had been expecting. Akane Kimura was watching what looked like a H rated scene in some sort of anime, the words 'it feels so good' and 'oooooh, you're so deep inside me, master' were evident enough. As Nepgear's face flushed red while Mars merely did his best to avoid looking at the H rated scene that was playing out on the computer screen, Akane grimaced in an embarrassed look as she pressed the spacebar on her keyboard, stopping the scene midway as the semi-naked man pounded away at the equally semi-naked woman beneath him, both moaning away before they were paused and the screen was turned off.

Akane turned around on her chair and glanced at Mars and Nepgear, making no attempt to hide her almost naked body; her purple eyes stared sternly at the two intruders, yet there was no malice, instead she appeared to be rather calm about the whole situation. "Tell no one about this. Ever," the scientist demanded in a serious tone, she quickly received nods from Mars and Nepgear, which earned a small sigh. "Anyway, what's the problem? I'm busy, and I don't like to be disturbed."

 _Clearly you don't._ Mars thought, barely keeping it to himself. Soon enough though his gaze was fixated on her breasts, which were larger than he thought, which moved downwards towards her tight panties and eventually her thighs, earning a nod from within the young man's mind. _Nice thighs, and curves, oh, and chest to. W-Wait a second, I'm supposed to be trying to figure out how I'm going to tell Uni how I l-l-love her! Maybe She was right, maybe I am a pervert. Maybe._

It did not take long for Nepgear to answer Akane's demanding question. "M-Mars is here for his health check up. We were around the base of the Brown Mountains in Lastation where we encountered a new species of Dogoo that swallowed Mars within itself, then it… I'm not overly sure, but I think it's special attack had something to do with inducing bad memories. Here, this is the test tube with some of the slime we recovered."

The CPU Candidate then handed over the test tube to Akane, who took a long look at it before she hummed thoughtfully to herself, placing the test tube on a test tube rack. "Hmm, interesting, completely interesting. I'll have to examine this later, but first comes the health check up. I can handle things from here, Lady Purple Sister, thank you for bringing this to my attention. Is there anything else I should know?"

"Well, there is something wrong with Mars' chest-" Nepgear was about to say when Mars shook her roughly, clearly not wanting her to say anything about it. Despite not understanding why Mars did not want to let Akane know about his probable chest problem but she decided it was best to go along with the young man's decision; it was his health after all, so it was his decision in the end and Nepgear had to respect it. "Well, if you wish. I best be off so I can help Neptune with all that cleaning. Oh, and Akane, please put some clothes on."

"I was planning on it, Lady Purple Sister," Akane responded as she stood up and grabbed the white lab coat that was hanging loosely off a hook on the wall, she put the lab coat on and buttoned it up all the way, save for a few buttons that exposed her cleavage. Afterwards the purple eyed hentai viewer looked back at Nepgear and Mars, upon seeing their questioning gazes she shrugged her shoulders. "What? It'll do for now. It's not like there's a strong wind around here or anything."

"If you insist. Anyway, Mars, if you want to talk to me about what has been bothering you lately with Uni then please do tell me, it might help you in the long run," Nepgear said reassuringly as she began to turn around and leave the room.

Mars nodded, silently glad to know that there was someone, a friend no less, who wanted to help him with his problems that concerned Uni. "Thanks, Nepgear. You better get back to Neptune and make sure she's cleaning up in that living room, and if you see Histoire tell her I said hi."

Nepgear nodded with a caring smile, then she disappeared down the hallway out of sight, leaving Mars alone with a semi-naked, perverted scientist who was only wearing a lab coat over her almost naked body. Akane sighed and pushed the young man out of the room before closing the door in front of him, then came the rustling sounds of clothing against skin. After a short while the door opened to reveal Akane in an open white lab coat, a dark purple singlet top that appeared to be a little constricting around her D-cup breasts, a pair of blue jeans that had several bits torn up and her reading glasses were on top of her head. She walked past the young man and waved her hand at him, beckoning Mars to follow her.

"Follow me, Mars, we'll get this health check up out of the way as fast as I can," Akane informed Mars as he began to follow her down the hallway. The two of them did not speak to each other, the silence was just too awkward between them, no doubt because of the H scene in the anime that she was watching, and that Mars and Nepgear walked in on. Eventually, after many minutes of silence as the two of them walked up a flight of stairs, Akane looked back at Mars and stared at him awkwardly. "So, um… yeah, I was watching hentai in there, if you hadn't noticed."

"Oh me and Nepgear noticed, and I feel sorry for her as well," Mars responded, although it was not in a harsh tone, instead it was more pitiful. Strangely enough, the young man continued on with the conversation. "So, why were you watching a hentai that involved neko fucking?"

Akane shrugged. "I don't know, I just thought it would be interesting, and boy was I right. I love nekos, sometimes I wish I was born as one, sometimes anyway."

"What, so you could be used as a sex toy by some horny guy?" Mars asked, wondering why he and Akane were even having this conversation.

The blue haired woman shook her head as they entered her laboratory. "No, I just happen to like the tail and the ears."

"Pervert," was all Mars could say as he stood next to a steel desk.

Akane grinned in a cheeky manner as she lowered her glasses over her eyes, her arms crossed together underneath her large chest. "But of course, I am indeed a pervert. I may think dirty things every now and then, but it isn't a big part of my life though." The perverted scientist, who also happened to be a doctor, pointed toward a comfy chair as she began to rummage through a few drawers. "Sit in the chair, then I'll start doing the usual health check up shit, hopefully this won't take too long."

Mars complied, although rather grudgingly. He sat down in the chair as Akane began to check his heartbeat, his temperature, his blood pressure and his overall health in general. After half an hour of sitting in the chair Mars looked over at Akane, who was now standing up and was rummaging through the separate set of drawers. She had a grim expression upon her face. Mars, feeling a little concerned for the pervy scientist, asked what was wrong with her. "Is something bumming you over there? You look a little sad is all."

Akane glanced over at Mars with a surprised look. "Wha? You noticed?" She then chuckled to herself before she stood up tall and stared at the young man. "It isn't anything major, but… I don't know why, but you remind me of someone from my childhood, my only friend to be exact. You just remind me of him a little is all. He went missing around ten years ago, I've been looking for him ever since."

Mars' face scrunched up as he began to think about, especially the ten years part of the explanation. The only thing that came to mind was Project Mars, the young man himself was brought into it around then as were several other kids, it could have been possible that the boy Akane was looking for had been amongst one of the kids that were experimented on. Mars sighed and spoke his mind. "I'm sorry to hear that, Akane, but you should just accept the fact that he's most likely dead."

"That's what everyone else said when I was younger, but I can't accept it, I just can't. He was the only one in my life, aside from my parents, who really gave my life meaning. That boy was the only one who I could truly have called a friend that didn't treat me like royalty," Akane explained in a sad tone as she looked away from the young man, her hands gripped the sleeves of her lab coat tightly as tears began to fall down her cheeks. "After he disappeared I just… I just…"

Mars sighed and tried his best to comfort the scientist with words, hoping that it would help her. "It's alright, Akane, you don't need to continue explaining it if it's only going to get you sad and depressed. I know what it's like to have something taken away from you, kind of anyway. I'm sorry that I remind you of him. I hope you find him, if he's still out there."

Akane wiped her tears away as she turned around to face Mars, a small smile adorned her face as she looked at the young man. "Thanks, Mars. I hope I do find him, then everything will be back to normal." The perverted, neko loving scientist then began fiddling around with an empty, clean syringe, which she picked out of an almost empty drawer.

"Um, what's that for?" Mars asked nervously, wondering if he really wanted to know what the syringe was for at all.

"I only need a bit of blood is all, nothing major," she replied. "Since I'm guessing that there's something going on with you, from what Lady Purple Sister said about probable chest problems anyway, I'd like to have some sort of tissue sample from you, let's say, your heart, but unfortunately a blood sample will have to suffice for now. This will not take long."

"Will we be done after this?" Mars asked with a serious look on his face as Akane approached him, tapping the syringe.

Much to the young man's luck Akane nodded. "Yep, we'll be done for the day. Next week though I'll be taking an x-ray of your body to make sure everything is fine, then hopefully I can get a tissue sample from your heart."

"Why my heart?" Mars demanded in an increasingly harsher tone than before.

"Because all chest problems correlate with the heart, one way or another," Akane explained as she stood next to the young man, syringe in hand and right next to his bare, right arm. "This won't take long, just relax."

It did not take long for Akane to extract some blood from Mars' arm, but it was clear even to her that the young man did not like it that the needle had extracted some blood from him, and even being near him for that matter. "We done here?" Mars asked, he was starting to get impatient.

The perverted scientist nodded. "Yeah, we're done here." That was when she heard a set of hurried footsteps coming down the hallway towards them, it sounded as if they were running towards them. "Sounds like we've got company."

After Akane had finished speaking Mars was surprised to see Uni sticking her head through the doorway, once she saw Mars she ran up to him, her expression full of concern. "Are you alright? I heard from Noire that you were taken here for a medical check after being almost beaten by a Dogoo, a new species of them, that did something to you."

Mars sighed and patted the tsundere's head, much to her chagrin. "I'm fine, Uni, at least I think I am. Am I alright to go now, Akane?"

The pervy scientist nodded. "Yeah, you're clear to go. Have fun, you two lovebirds. Take care of yourself, Mars."

"Right, you too, Akane," Mars replied witha bright blush as both he and Uni blushed brightly as they left the laboratory, the word 'lovebirds' was stuck in Mars' mind as he and the tsundere Candidate of Lastation walked down the hallway back towards the living room. _I should tell her, I should… but what if Uni rejects me? Sure,, she cares for me and all that, but could she really love me like how I do for her. Could Uni even love me, a person who is practically a weapon against CPUs? Gah! This is frustrating! Maybe I should get Nepgear's advice on the matter, better than that asking Noire for help._

The young man groaned at himself internally before he looked in Uni's direction, noticing how she appeared to be rather quiet and evasive, most likely due to Akane's comment. Mars glanced away and sighed silently, his thoughts ever on Uni. _I don't deserve her after everything I have done and commited, but I just can't help it. Uni's made me into a better person, into someone that truly values life, someone who wants to help others, someone who has developed more emotions, someone hwo can love. I want to tell her, I really want to, but I'm afraid of what might happen._

Akane watched Mars and Uni as they left down the hallway and disappeared from sight, she sighed and shook her head before returning to the matter at hand. She walked up to a microscope and peered through it to look at the blood sample she got from Mars; Akane did not really know what to look for, but she had to start somewhere. After a couple of seconds she found something odd.

"Hmm, this blood cells are dying quickly, almost too quickly. Could it be due to exposure away from his body? No, that can't be it," Akane mumbled to herself as she kept gazing at the dying blood cells. It was then that she found the strands of Anti-Energy flowing around, they appeared unaffected, at least some strands at least, a few began to glow dimly before dying out. The blue haired woman grumbled to herself out of frustration.

"Hmm, maybe I should get a tissue sample of his heart, and figure out where that Anti-Crystal within him is as well; he never told anyone where it is, nor did Laran tell me," she continued to mumble to herself before walking off to look at the other results that she gathered from Mars previously. "If Project Ares wants their prototype from Project Mars back in their hands I have to figure out what's wrong with him first, and why his heartbeat is lower than before. This is going to be difficult. Plus I have to examine that Dogoo slime as well. My day is gonna be full on; no more hentai for me today it seems."

* * *

 **A/N: Things are starting to heat up now, with the Colosseum and all that. I don't really know how the next chapter will play out, but I do have a few ideas for some parts of it, I think I might just have to come up with stuff on the spot. Because of this the next chapter might take longer than a week, maybe two, including the one after that as well. I want to bring quality content to you readers, and not to rush things; it's partially the reason why I'm sometimes slow at updating. Just my personal opinion, but I'm starting to like Akane, and not just because she has as body that could belong in a Sakura game, or that she likes hentai. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) Er... besides that small note, I hope to keep you readers interested for many chapters to come, especially when I have a few things in mind for the next two to three chapters. Until then, keep an eye out for the next chapter, if you have any suggestions or requests then please do inform me and stay awesome.**


	24. Twist of Fate

**Chapter 23: Twist of Fate**

The sun was rising high over the eastern horizon, shining its gaze over the four nations of Gamindustri as brightly as it could through the lightly dense clouds. The sunlight awoke the denizen people and creatures of Gamindustri, at least some of them considering that it was still early in the morning, and not many people throughout the four nations of Planeptune, Lastation, Leanbox and Lowee were morning people. This was utterly true for many citizens of Planeptune, the most laidback country in all of Gamindustri's history. However, there were a few people who did indeed wake up early in the morning, one of these people was none other than the most strangest and mysterious citizen of Lastation: Mars.

The young, brown scruffy haired man of the steampunk nation was standing in his room, his back was up against the western wall with the bed directly in front of him, some shining rays of sunlight managed to shine through the eastern window, although some parts of the room was still dark, even though the curtains were pulled back wide open. Mars was wearing nothing more than a pair of worn out blue jeans and a brand new black belt around his waist, leaving his feet bare and his chest uncovered, showing his deep and brutal scars for the nearby birds to view. The blue eyed man had his arms crossed over his scarred chest, his gaze was directed towards the ground below around his feet, he bit his lower lip with his upper teeth out of anxiety. Mars was nervous, anxious about his future plan for the day. His heart began to beat rapidly as his thoughts turned towards a certain raven haired CPU Candidate. The young man rubbed his right hand over his bare chest where his heart was, his hands could feel the heartbeat get quicker with every passing minute.

"Damn you, Uni. Why did you have to make me feel like this? I've never felt this way for anyone in my scarred, battered life, so why did you have to be the one who made me feel this way?" Mars mumbled to himself as he rubbed the area above his heart. "I don't think I can handle this feeling of love for Uni, it's making my heart feel too weird, and I've been told that the unusual low heartbeat that I possess is unnatural and worrisome, yet what does that mean when I have a rapid heartbeat that is faster than an averagely normal one? Damn it all. Still, just because my separate heartbeats are unnatural doesn't mean that I'm going to give up on telling Uni how I feel, far from it in fact."

The young man's mumblings were soon interrupted by the chirping of the birds outside his window, he gazed towards it to see that the sun had begun to flow more of its light into the room, lighting up the darkness that swelled within. Outside things seemed quiet enough, save for a few cars and motorbikes that zoomed down the roads. Mars glanced at the digital clock on the desk to see what the time was, it read 7:13 am. To some that was rather early, to others it was practically like midday. The scruffy haired man of Lastation sighed as he continued to stare at the birds before they flew away to goddess knows where, nor did he care, his mind was focused on something else, two things to be exact.

 _The Colosseum. Why in the name of all that is bloody did Neptune even want to build a place like that in the first place? Just hearing and imagining it reminds me too much of Project Mars and the small fights that would sometimes be sanctioned by the Director for the unfortunate bastards who found themselves wrapped up into it. Something just feels off about the whole event._ Mars thought as he walked up to the window and peered through the glass, his gaze falling upon the many buildings, big and small, that dotted the landscape throughout the capital city of the Land of Purple Progress.

The young man turned his attention back towards the bedroom door, wondering if there was anything to be heard from the hallway, yet there was no sound to be heard. This did not surprise him, quite the opposite in fact. If there was one thing that Mars liked about Planeptune, it was the peace and quiet that occurred, but only in the mornings; if he wanted to have a lot more peace and quiet then he would have to go to Lowee, although that would undoubtedly end every time with Rom and Ram pranking him in some way. As Mars was about to turn around to fetch his black collared shirt he noticed something odd in the distance, yet it was not far away, in fact it was too close for comfort. It was the oversized raven. The green eyed bird was staring right at the young man, or more correctly, it was staring at the scars on his chest. Either way, it made Mars feel uncomfortable knowing that there was something, or someone, watching him from afar in a suspicious manner. The brown haired man had never trusted that raven ever since he first saw it in Lastation all that time ago, just seeing the oversized bird made him snarl.

Mars opened the glass window and grabbed his sniper rifle, which was leaning up against the all near the window, he took aim with it in the raven's direction, but within a couple of seconds the bird flew away towards the north in the general direction of the Colosseum of Planeptune. The young man sighed as he placed his favourite long ranged weapon back down, he then closed the glass window and curtains before reaching for his Lastation styled shirt and tugged his arms through the sleeves and his upper body into the clothing. He could feel the scars over his upper body, both front and back, brush up against the soft shirt, the young man grimaced as his thoughts turned towards the scarring on is upper body, which he tried to hide at all times whenever possible.

Once Mars had his shirt on as well as his boots, and after checking that the zip on the front of his jeans was zipped up, he left the bedroom assigned to him and made his way towards the kitchen. The hallways echoed with the sound off booted feet stomping against the ground, making it sound almost intimidating to a degree, but it was the only source of sound to listen to. Once the young man had finally arrived in the kitchen he was surprised to see none other than Nepgear, the lilac haired CPU Candidate was sitting by the table with a very small bowl of cereal with a small pile of scrap metal and electronic software next to it, a small electronic wrist computer with a screen that measured five inches wide and four inches downwards was what the Candidate was working on; there were several switched and buttons on either side of the screen, including what seemed liked a small metre for measuring something that happened to be in the air. The rest of the computer's system was underneath the screen in a small hard drive that was fairly larger than the screen by several inches in all direction, a padded armband that was originally used to strap the computer to the user's lower arm was unhinged from the rest of the device. The Candidate seemed too focused on the strange wrist-held computer to notice the young man near her, so Mars decided it was better to leave her be for the moment, although he did still wanted to speak to her about Uni.

As Nepgear tinkered away with the device, taking the screen off with her violet coloured screwdriver to fiddle around with the insides, Mars rummaged through the fridge and the cupboards in his search for an early morning breakfast, but there was either nothing to be found or the little that he did find was just too unappetising. With a disatisfied growl the young man slammed the fridge door closed as his stomach rumbled, this only made Nepgear lose concentration on what she was doing and finally noticed the scruffy haired man in the kitchen. "M-Mars?! Don't scare me like that!" the amethyst coloured eyed goddess exclaimed.

"Sorry 'bout that, Nepgear, was just trying to find something edible to eat is all," Mars apologised, not once even raising his voice in response to Nepgear's outburst, as he would usually do when anyone raises their voice at him for any reason. "There isn't anything interesting to eat around here, all I can find is some outdated biscuits, a few unopened cans of Nep Bull, some leftover smoked salmon, some vegetables that only Noire is going to touch and what looks like what's left of the caramel cake that we had last night."

"Did we really consume just about everything last night?" Nepgear asked, astounded that was the case.

"Yeah, it sure seems like it. We sure did screw up the supply situation with that sleepover party last night, and all because Neptune wanted to throw one in the first place," Mars responded, causing the CPU Candidate to chuckle.

"It couldn't be helped, Mars. I told Neptune about what happened to you during our mission yesterday when the two of us were cleaning up the living room, after that she wanted to throw a little party to brighten the mood, especially when you emerged from Akane's laboratory with a grim expression." When Nepgear saw the moody look on Mars' face she quickly became apologetic. "I-I'm sorry, Mars, but Neptune said that she wanted to know and kept asking me what happened to you, so I had to tell her."

Mars sighed as he walked up to the saddened Candidate of Planeptune, once he was standing in front of her the young man extended his right hand out towards her and patted her gently on the head, ruffling up her hair ever so slightly. "It's alright, Nepgear, I don't mind the fact that you told Neptune, she would have found out either way."

After a couple of seconds of silence, with the only movement in the room coming from Mars patting Nepgear on the head gently, the CPU Candidate glanced away as her shoulders shrunk downwards and her cheeks flushed a light shade of red. "Hey, Mars, c-can you stop patting l-like that, please?" she asked nervously, her hands gripping her clothing tightly.

"Oh, right, sorry about that," Mars quickly apologised as he took a step back. "Didn't you like it or something?"

Nepgear shook her head to allay any concerns that the young man may have had, which there happened to be none at all, although she was not aware of it. "I'm fine, really. It's just that Neptune and Vert are the only ones who pats me on the head like that, so I was just a bit surprised was all."

The scruffy haired man raised an eyebrow and would have smiled, but he dared not attempt to try, thinking it would have only creeped the Candidate out. "Well, I'm not surprised to hear that Neptune and Vert pat you on the head, that older sister of yours and that gamer goddess are kinda affectionate towards people, especially you. Although, you took to my head patting better than Uni did whenever I pat her on the head, usually she just slaps me across the face or pouts if her mood is agreeable."

Nepgear could not help but chuckle. "But you two are so cute together, it's adorable to see the two of you try to be friendly while getting embarrassed at the same time. Just like last night after your time in Akane's laboratory, the two of you were inseparable from each other. You must really care for her, don't you? She definitely cares for you, that's for sure."

At the mere mention of Uni's name and the way they had been acting around each other the previous night during the sleepover party, Mars blushed in a bright tinge of red. Mars and Uni had been quiet around each other, the only times they had even uttered a word to each other was when they were playing a game together on the TV or when they gave each other some food, other than that they did not say much to each other, but aside from that Mars and Uni did stay close to one another the entire time until it was time for bed. As the young man glanced away and rubbed the back of his head he could not help but feel his heartbeat start to rise rapidly, his thoughts turning towards the CPU Candidate of Lastation once again.

Nepgear stared at Mars with a confused expression, wondering at first why he appeared to be embarrassed. "Why are you acting like that? Is something the matter?" Soon afterwards the Planeptunian Candidate suddenly figured it out after swiftly remembering the short conversation she had with the young man the previous day. "Oh, I remember now, you like-"

Mars swiftly shot her a vicious glare, silencing the Candidate before she could finish her sentence. "C-Can we just talk about that somewhere else where no one can hear us? I don't want people to know about this."

The lilac haired Candidate nodded as a small smile formed on her face. "Sure thing, just let me gather these parts up and I'll show you my workshop, we can talk there without anyone's interference."

"You have a workshop? For real?" Mars asked with a raised eyebrow. He was generally surprised to hear that Nepgear had her own workshop, but the more he gave it thought the more it started to make sense, she was obsessed with repairing items of interest as well as working on the technology that Planeptune had avaliable.

Nepgear nodded enthusiastically. "I sure do. It's spacious and filled with plenty of spare parts for everything that anyone can have or can find, even for tanks and energy weapons like plasma and laser rifles. Come on, I'll show you, then we'll talk."

Mars had to help Nepgear carry her small project with her as the two of them walk down the hallway and into the see through elevator, their destination appeared to be downwards to one of the larger and unoccupied levels of the oversized Basilicom; it always boggled the young man's mind why the Basilicoms of Gamindustri were bigger than a corporate industrial building that one was prone to encountering in Lastation. It did not take long for the elevator to reach the chosen destination, which Mars was silently grateful for, he did not want to waste too much time in the elevator. The hallway that Mars and Nepgear walked through was quiet, as if there were no other souls save for the young man's and the CPU Candidate's. Eventually the two of them arrived at the door to Nepgear's workshop, it was a simple lilac coloured door with white creamy edges to it, just like most of the doors within the Basilicom. Once they entered the room and closed the door behind them Nepgear opened the curtains, revealing the workshop in its entirety.

It was messy, completely and utterly messy. Pieces of computers, guns of all kinds, energy swords and spears, tank engines and even a ripped apart canon were piled all over the place in various corners of the room, metal cabinets with their doors thrown open dotted the walls, a large workbench with various tools hanging off the wall beside it occupied itself in one of the more empty corners of the room. That was where Nepgear was heading to, so Mars followed her, his eyes darting from all the weapons, scrap metal, spare electronics and other gizmos that were lying around the place. The Planeptunian Candidate carefully placed the strange computer onto the workbench while Mars was a little more rough with the pieces of scrap metal and electronics when placing them down next to the device.

"Be careful with those, I need them to get this thing working again," Nepgear scolded in a way that Mars found cute as she made sure that they were still in working order. Nepgear's scolding pout was different from Uni's, although Mars found the Lastationite Candidate's scolding pout to be just plain adorable due to it being flushed with mixed emotions and not just one, Nepgear's was more direct with only one emotion, but it was still endearing.

"Sorry, Nepgear," was Mars' apology, although it did not sound as sincere as others would be.

Nevertheless, it was enough of an apology for the Candidate of Planeptune to forgive the young man. She gave him a chuckle while a smile crept over her face. "Don't worry about it, Mars, I overreact sometimes when people mishandle these sorts of things. I really want to get this device working, so I need all the intact spare parts I've got."

"Speaking of which, what the hell is this thing? A wrist computer or something? Never seen anything like it. Where'd you find it?" Mars asked as he poked the electronic device several times, studying whatever his eyes could see to memory.

Nepgear nodded excitedly. She sat down on a chair and began to fiddle around with the broken device "Yep, it sure is. I found it a couple of days ago out in one of the trash bins in the alleyways, it was sticking out of some old boot and looked like it had seen better days. I already started to pull it apart by the time you arrived in the kitchen to see what was going on inside it, and from what I saw it doesn't seem all that well. Someone forcibly removed the small hard drive by tearing it out without a single care in the world, which makes it even harder to get his back to a working state. Still, I've never seen something like this before, it doesn't look like something that Planeptune made, and Lowee definitely didn't make this. Do you think Lastation or Leanbox could have manufactured this?"

Mars shrugged. "I don't know, probably not though, otherwise I would've heard of it from either Uni or Noire." Soon afterwards he began to blush again, just saying Uni's name was making him feel lightheaded. "Hey, um, Nepgear, can we t-talk about… you know… U-U-Uni?"

The Candidate of Planeptune chuckled as she nodded in response. "Alright then, Mars, I'll help you out with this problem you have with Uni, though I doubt it's actually a problem. So, how can I help you with Uni?"

The scruffy haired man sighed as he grabbed a nearby chair, dragged it over and sat down near Nepgear, the usual stoic or grumpy look on his face was now replaced with one filled with embarrassment. As the young man spoke he did his best to sound coherent and not let his nervous stuttering get in the way, but in that task he failed utterly. "Well, you see… about Uni… I kinda… you know… l-l-l-love her."

For some reason that Mars could not fully understand at first, Nepgear did not appear to be that surprised, in fact she seemed to be rather excited with the news. She giggled loudly despite having a hand by her mouth to stifle the noise. "I guessed that was what the problem was. I'm glad to hear that you finally caved in with your feelings, otherwise Neptune was going to have to constantly bug you about it until you shouted it in front of everyone."

"Wait, Neptune knew?!" Mars exclaimed, causing the CPU Candidate to flinch in shock.

Nepgear chuckled as she nodded. "Well yeah, you aren't exactly good with hiding emotions like love and happiness whenever you're around Uni, Neptune spotted that easily, as did Vert. I think Blanc may know about it as well."

This made the young man groan as he held his hands over his face, his back slouching forward. "Great, just what I wanted to hear, just about every goddess in Gamindustri knows how I feel for Uni. Do you think Noire knows about it?"

"I wouldn't think so, otherwise she would have already said something to you," Nepgear replied, relieving the young man's worries. "Just to let you know, I also think Uni doesn't know how you feel for her."

Mars was silent, yet he did seem more relaxed than before, but he did have one or two questions that were burning through his mind that he wanted to ask Nepgear. The young man looked up and stared at the Planeptunian Candidate with a grim look. "Nepgear, tell me, is it even remotely possible for a guy like me to even be able to go out with a goddess like Uni? Do you think she likes me the way I do for her?"

The lilac haired Candidate rubbed her chin thoughtfully as she took Mars' question into consideration; it was a tough one to answer, considering that no one had ever dated a CPU in the entire history of Gamindustri. "Hmm, while it is unheard of for a human to date a CPU, I guess it's fine for one to do so. Yeah, I think it's acceptable, even if it isn't I'd still do it if I were you, I'd even defend you an Uni if needed. As for Uni liking you… well, I think it's better for you to discover that for yourself, I don't want to make it easy for you."

"Heh, you're starting to sound like Histoire now. Be careful now, one tome fairy is enough for all of us," Mars said jokingly, making Nepgear giggle in response.

"Don't be too harsh about Histoire, she only does her job as the Oracle of Planeptune," the CPU Candidate informed the young man with a small smile. "Anyway, when are you going to confess your feelings to Uni?"

The young man stuttered uncontrollably as his glance fell towards the ground, his nervousness was starting to rise. "W-Well, that was what I was hoping you could tell me the answer to that. Do I need to do something before that? Maybe get her something to win her a-affection?"

Nepgear though long and hard on a proper response to Mars' question, remaining silent as her gaze fell upon her knees. Finally she looked back up at the young man with an answer. "Well, how about getting her a present? If you just confessed to her on the spot at some random time you could end up with frying her brain, if you took too long to confess your feelings you may end up losing her. Try getting her a present to soften her up, then confess to her at some sort of romantic moment, maybe in the middle of the night when the moon is bright in the sky. Hopefully that was helpful. If you want to get Uni a gift then you might want to do it soon, the opening ceremony for the Colosseum will occur at around lunch, so us goddesses will be there at an earlier time. Once you find a gift keep it until a suitable time, probably a beautiful night sky in the shining moonlight. Go out there and get something for her, then come back for the ceremony and await the right time to present the gift and gain that kiss."

Mars nodded, although the red tinge in his cheeks refused to go away as he pictured himself with Uni on some sort of balcony in the middle of the night, the moonlight shining upon them as they held each other in their arms. As their faces neared one another, their lips poised to press against one another, the young man shook his head to shake away the thought of such a thing. Soon afterwards Mars sighed and, without smiling, gave Nepgear a grateful look. "Thanks for the assistance, Nepgear, but I best be off to go and get Uni a present. Thanks again," Mars thanked the Candidate as he began to walk out of the workshop.

Nepgear smiled and waved him out, watching as he left the room and disappear into the hallway. She sighed with a hint of happiness, glad to see Mars in a jubilant yet nervous mood. _I hope Mars can find something Uni likes, I just know that you can win her heart. You've changed, Mars, you aren't the same grumpy guy that I once knew. If anyone was to be Uni's boyfriend I hope it's you. Good luck, Mars._ Nepgear thought as she returned to her small project.

* * *

"Ah jeez, I still haven't found anything for Uni yet, this is getting annoying," Mars mumbled as he strolled down the streets of Planeptune City. The young man was looking for a present for the CPU Candidate of Lastation so it could help with future confession, but nothing was piquing his interest. "Ah great, guess I'm going to be at a disadvantage with this whole confession thing."

It had been four hours since Mars had left the Basilicom in order to find a gift for Uni to help him in his future confession, but it was proving more and more difficult to even find anything at all. The young man groaned depressingly as he walked past a few stores, glancing quickly at the stands out the front of each and every one of them, but nothing caught his fancy. IT was frustrating for Mars, seeing nothing interesting that could help him with his confession. However, as he walked past several groups of people the young man did notice something odd with them, something that he had not noticed before. Many people were glancing at him, acknowledging his existence in a friendly manner. It surprised Mars to see people on the street recognising him and even acknowledging him at all, but after giving it some thought he realised that it was not something he should be too concerned about, Mars was heavily associated with the goddesses after all. True, not everyone was looking at him with favourable eyes, but being recognised at all was something that he was not used to. Mars could only imagine what the general opinion of him would be if he managed to confess his feelings to Uni.

As Mars turned down a corner and made his way back to the city centre, his sights set on returning to the Basilicom empty handed, he came across what seemed like a bookstore, a rather rundown one at that. With a hint of curiosity setting in, Mars approached the bookstore and opened the front door, hearing the hinges squeak loudly in an annoying sound while the bells jingled above him; he swore that some dust fell down from above. After closing the creaky door behind him Mars glanced around to see if there was anyone else in the small bookstore, but there was not a single soul in sight. "Hmm, I thought a bookstore would be filled with people, guess that only happens in Lowee," Mars muttered to himself.

"Yes, that would mostly be correct, but not entirely true," a voice called out from the nearby counter. As Mars approached the counter he saw a woman with long, bright purple hair with a red ribbon tied up in it, bright blue eyes, a tanned look and a strange yet wise look in her expression. She was wearing a plain white t-shirt that managed to hide her modest breast size, a pair of blue jeans that stretched just below her knees and a brown fur lined, dark purple jacket that was unzipped all the way down, the fur cuffs were also brown in colour, a silver necklace hung from her neck to the top of her chest. For some reason that Mars could not explain, the young-looking woman had deep pools of wisdom in her eyes; her age appeared to be around the early twenties or late teens, but the young man guessed that the strange woman was much older than she appeared to be.

"So, I'm guessing you must be the owner then," Mars said as he locked eyes with the bookstore owner. "You got anything in here for someone who people would describe as a loner who's bad with showing their emotions?"

The bright blue eyed woman raised an eyebrow in response to the odd question before replying with words. "Huh? You're an oddball. There might be a Dummies Guide or somethin' in the non-fiction section, other than that you should just get a gift or whatever that this person might actually like and not be insulted by."

Mars sighed, knowing that it was a useless question anyway, but he wanted to ask away and see what sort of response he could get. "Ah crap, this is gonna be difficult," he mumbled to himself as he began to look for the non-fiction section of the bookstore. He ignored the odd stare he received from the bookstore owner and started to search through what he could find, wondering if anything would interest Uni, anything concerning guns was his main topic of interest during the search. However, it proved futile in the end.

 _Grah! This is starting to annoy me utterly now! How the bloody hell am I supposed to c-confess my feelings for Uni if I can't even find something for her? At this rate I might as well just tell her on the spot and fry her brain in the process._ Mars thought as he skimmed through a whole shelf filled with books, many of which had not been touched for a long time.

However, after searching through the many shelves of the non-fiction section the young man came across a book that was tucked away behind several uninteresting novels, some of which came from Lowee under the penname 'White'. Once Mars had retrieved the book he took a long look at it and found it to be completely unworldly. The dark brown book cover was covered in dust, some of the pages were old and crumbled, making it hard to read some of the words. And speaking of the words, they were in a completely different language. Instead of the usual Gamindustrian language there were many different types of words, all marked down in black ink. What was most astonishing was the fact that Mars could actually read and understand it, at least some of them; it was quite a shock to him.

From what he could gather it seemed that the book title was, in the Gamindustrian language, 'An Age of Tales: The Clans, Goddesses Rising and the Dragon War'; in the strange language it went by 'Aan Bok Do Tey: Fin Brod, Rah Alok ahrk fin Dov Kein'. The author went by the weird and highly uncommon name of 'Kinzonzul', it too was written in the strange language. Mars began to read the beginning of it, but did not get too far through it before he was interrupted by the bookstore owner; the young man felt her tapping his shoulder gently. "Yeah, what is it? Something wrong?" Mars asked as he turned around to face the purple haired woman.

"It ain't anythin' major, but are you feeling alright? You look a little worse than you did before. Got somethin' to do with that book you're holding?" she asked with a curious tone.

"I think so. For some reason I can understand some of the words written in these pages," the young man replied as he let the purple haired woman look at the first few pages of the book. Soon afterwards she handed it back to him, but his time her curious expression was replaced by a suspicious stare. It was rather unsettling to see, it felt as if she was glaring into his very soul.

Eventually she sighed and dropped her suspicious stare, her arms crossed over her chest and yet she still seemed to be rather suspicious of the young man for some reason. "Hmm, interesting. I'm not sure how you managed to decipher some of this strange text, no one I've ever known has ever been able to read this damnable book. Take it with you for free if you want, it's probably not too important."

"You sure?" Mars asked with a raised eyebrow. "I don't know how you can't read it, but the title is: 'An Age of Tales: The Clans, Goddesses Rising and the Dragon War. You really sure I can have this thing for free?"

The purple haired woman stared at the young man as if he was crazy, soon afterwards she sighed and shook her head. "Well it ain't like it's going to be too important now, been thousands of years anyway. Sure, you can take it for free, just leave me out of whatever you want with it," the woman responded. "So, anythin' else you want?"

"Hmm, how about books about guns? Got any of them lying around somewhere in this old store of yours?" Mars asked, his gaze falling around the different books that surrounded them.

To his surprise the woman nodded. "Yep, I got some on the counter. Want some for this person you're buyin' for?" When Mars nodded the store owner began to walk back towards the counter. "Make it quick though, I gotta go for an early lunch."

 _What a bitch._ Mars thought harshly as he followed the bright blue eyed woman back to the counter, there he found several books concerning rifles, light and heavy machine guns, cannons and energy weapons; overall it looked like something that Uni would be interested in. After gathering a couple of books, five in total, the store owner scanned each of the books and placed them in a plastic bag before giving it to the young man.

"Anythin' else you need? I gotta go for an early lunch you know," the woman asked, an elbow on the counter and a hand on her left cheek.

"That's it right now. I'm outta here," Mars responded. The young man turned around and, with the five books for Uni and the old tome for himself in the plastic bag, walked out of the bookstore and back onto the street. Once he was out of sight the bookstore owner grimaced grimly, her thoughts were on the scruffy haired man that had just left.

After leaving the bookstore Mars walked down the street again, this time he reached an outdoor cafe. White tables and chairs made of plastic dotted the small area as people came and went from place to place, sitting and standing up. As Mars gazed around the place his eyes fell upon a person he did not expect to see sitting around. The young man walked over to one of the tables and stared down at the strange person. "Wasn't expecting to see you sitting around here, Akane," Mars said.

Ture enough, Akane the perverted scientist of Planeptune was sitting by a table, a leg crossed over the other while her arms were crossed underneath her large chest. But what was most surprising about the encounter was that Akane was dressed in a violet sleeveless shirt that showed much of her belly, blue denim shorts that showed much of her legs, black and purple running shoes, and a black baseball hat was worn on her head, her blue hair was tied up at the back of her head. It looked like Akane had been running around the city. The perverted scientist looked up at the young man and smiled brightly at him. "Hey there, Mars. What's up?" Akane asked him cheerfully.

"Nothing much, was just browsing through the city was all," Mars replied as he sat down near the strange woman. "You've been running around I see. Where'd you go?"

"Just my late morning exercises. Was running through most of the city and decided to take a break, that's when you arrived," Akane replied before drinking out of the water bottle she had on the table. After placing it back down she stared at the young man with a cheeky grin, a hand reached for her left thigh and her right hand went straight for her right breast. "Heh, like what you see? I know you've been staring at me with those lewd eyes of yours; probably wishing you were caressing my thighs while working your magic on my tits, aren't you?"

"As if!" Mars responded with a slight glare. _Well, those are some nice thighs, definitely thicker than Uni's, also those breasts… No, Akane's just teasing me again, trying to get a reaction out of me._

The chief scientist chuckled at the mixed expression on the young man's face, making it obvious that she was enjoying all the teasing she threw at him. "So, what have you been looking for in this laid-back city?" she asked, her arms becoming crossed underneath her chest again.

Mars stuttered slightly and glanced away, his cheeks becoming red. "W-Well, uh… I was looking for s-something, that's all." Mars managed to notice Akane raising an eyebrow at his response, her grin refusing to leave her face. Eventually Mars decided to have her opinion about another possible gift for Uni. "S-So… if you were a guy and you liked this woman with all your heart, no matter how dark it might be, what would you give her?"

Akane rubbed her chin thoughtfully, surprisingly giving it some thought. Soon enough she gave her answer, but it was not what Mars had expected. Akane gave the young man a cheeky look and grinned brightly at him. "Well, if I was a guy and I liked a girl, then I'd be masturbating furiously in my room nonstop." She then proceeded to jerk her right hand over her crotch in imitation of what she had said.

Mars could not help but blush brightly as he watched the young woman pretend to masturbate in public for half a minute before stopping, grinning at the scruffy haired man with the cheekiest grin he had ever seen. "Do you have to be so embarrassing?!" Mars exclaimed, his entire face red.

Akane winked at the young man and chuckled. "But of course. Don't tell me that you haven't thought of Lady Black Sister like that before. I can just imagine it: you in your room, pants down, dick in hand, jerking off to that CPU Candidate-"

"LIKE HELL I EVER DO THAT, YOU DAMN PERVERT! I'D NEVER THINK OF UNI IN A PERVERTED WAY LIKE THAT!" Mars yelled at the top of his voice, standing up as his hands slammed down on the table, shaking it around roughly as he glared at the perverted woman before him. After panting heavily in a fit of rage, the brown haired man started to calm down as he glanced around him, seeing everyone nearby looking at him and Akane with mixed views. The young man sighed deeply and sat back down, his gaze falling upon his knees. "Um… right, s-s-sorry… I think."

Akane waved it away without a worry, she did not seem embarrassed about the whole scene in the slightest. "Meh, don't worry about it, Mars. I just can't help but embarrass you, you're too cute when you happen to be all flustered like that."

Mars grimaced and crossed his arms over his chest, his gaze locked onto Akane. "I don't like being called 'cute'."

"But that's just what you are, you're pretty cute for a grumpy guy," Akane giggled, waving a finger around with a large grin. _Well it isn't as if I'm lying, he is actually pretty cute, even if he isn't flustered and all. I'd openly flirt with him just for the hell of it, but Lady Black Sister would probably kill me, plus Laran wants this guy alive for the old fool in Project Ares. A pity really, he does remind me of my lost love, a bit at least._ Akane thought before adding more to her sentence. "Hey, sorry for making you think of such a dirty thing about you wanking off to Lady Black Sister's body, both human and HDD."

Mars glared at the perverted woman, his mood becoming darker. "Shut your trap, Akane. Jeez, I don't know how an utterly perverted scientist like you managed to become a chief member of the Planeptune Basilicom staff. Speaking of which, just how old are you? You seem too young to be an actual scientist."

"Well wouldn't you like to know? I'm actually nineteen years old. Sorry, twenty now, I forgot that my birthday occurred a few weeks ago when I was out searching for my lost friend," Akane replied, her tone sad as she mentioned about forgetting her own birthday and her lost friend. It was not long for her to change the topic. "Anyway, I am glad that I found you, I've been looking for you for an hour now."

"Huh? What for?" Mars asked with a confused tone.

"Lady Histoire wanted to tell you that the opening ceremony is going to happen shortly, I was told to find you when I head back to the Basilicom after my morning run. Just so happened that I was heading back to the Basilicom and wanted to take a short break, I'm quite lucky," Akane replied as she pulled out her glasses from a pocket and placed them before her eyes. "Also, I heard that Lady Black Sister almost tore up the Basilicom in her attempt to locate you, that isn't very gentlemanly of you to keep a lady waiting anxiously. She's become very attached to you after your run in with that odd Dogoo."

After doing his best to suppress his embarrassment, Mars asked something that had been bothering him for a while now. "Hey, did you ever find out what that damn slime bastard was all about? I'm dying to know."

Akane grabbed her water bottle and gestured for Mars to follow her back to the Basilicom, along the way she began to explain her discovery. "I did find something. Turns out that Dogoo you fought in Lastation was a new breed of them, I also think it was manufactured in a lab due to its strange properties. The red energy that I abstracted from it is identical to the Anti-Energy that flows through your body. That Dogoo was an Anti-Crystal user, just like you."

Mars stared at Akane with a surprised look, he appeared to be disbelieve with the scientist's findings. "You sure 'bout that? I'm sure I didn't see an Anti-Crystal inside the slimey bastard's body when it engulfed me."

"It was probably destroyed when you killed the creature, but believe me when I say that it had the same power as you, the strands of Anti-Energy was just like yours. I can even show you the results in my lab, if we have time that is. The opening ceremony is going to start sooner or later. Come on, let's not keep them waiting for us."

It took a little while for Mars and Akane to return to the Basilicom, say their greetings to Histoire, drop off what they had and leave again, this time their destination was towards the Colosseum of Planeptune. Akane had gotten changed into a pair of bright blue jeans, a lilac coloured collared shirt with the Planeptune flag on it and a brown jacket, her running shoes had been replaced by black boots; she kept her glasses on her face for some reason or another. Together she and Mars walked down the street towards the Colosseum in a quickened pace, the sounds of Purple Heart's voice could be heard from the loudspeakers in the distance. The opening ceremony had already begun, and both Mars and Akane were late.

"Dammit, Uni is going to give me a lecture about punctuation later, I just know it," Mars grumbled as his quick walk swiftly turned into a jog.

"Look on the bright side, at least you get to be with the one you love, right?" Akane pointed out as she caught up with the young man, giving him a small smile. Behind it, however, Mars could tell that she was feeling pain, most likely pain from remembering the loved one she had lost all those years ago.

"Tell me, Akane, what was this boy you're looking for like?" Mars asked, catching the perverted scientist off guard for a short moment. "You've been searching for him for years now, and it sounds like you think of him more than just a simple friend."

Akane glanced away and grimaced, biting her lower lip for a moment, before answering Mars' curiosity. "Well, he was kind, really kind, like the type of person who would give up everything to save just one person he cared about, yet he also seemed a bit aloof. Our situation when we first met was… complicated. Out parents had… arranged an agreement between our two families, and it wasn't your usual business agreement either. Now, can we please stop talking about it?"

Mars noded. "Sure, if you say so."

The two managed to make it to the Colosseum, sweat running down their faces as they arrived at the entrance to the battle arena of Planeptune. It was a circular structure with high walls and was coloured in violet, dozens upon dozens of lights dotted the walls, the front and only main entrance was surprisingly just a ordinary as any other doorway, aside from the fact that it was a bit larger and had double glass doors. Inside was a reception centre with various touch screens, billboards, oversized TV screens where the CPUs could be seen, and even waiting areas, there was even a sign pointing towards a training room and a cafeteria. It was definitely Planeptunian in design. Mars and Akane could hear what Purple Heart was saying through the purple coloured loudspeaker, thought they paid little head to it as they pushed their way through the crowd.

After a couple of minutes of pushing around, Mars and Akane managed to arrive into the arena itself, more specifically the spectator area of the Colosseum, out before them was the battlefield itself. The walls too were of a violet colour, in fact just about everything in the Colosseum was coloured violet, the seats and the ground of the battle arena were also violet, even the mechanical roof that could slide open and close was a violet colour. There was also a thick set of railings to separate the crowd from the fighters and monsters below. Further away there was a small room built into the wall, a thick set of bulletproof glass separated the outside from the inside, it was where the commentator would be.

Inside the arena were none other than the eight Goddesses of Gamindustri, all of them were dressed up for the occasion in fancy dresses, although Mars did question Purple Heart's and Black Heart's choice of clothing. The Planeptunian Goddess was practically flaunting the sides of her breasts to the public; Black Heart's dress was almost see through, giving people a good view of her curves. The dresses of the Loweean CPUs were at least conservative, even Green Heart was not showing as much skin as a few of the others. Black Sister was standing next to her older sister, a stern look was upon her face. As Purple Heart continued to recite her speech to the crowd around her, the CPU Candidate of Lastation looked up into the sea of people, her eyes quickly locked onto Mars. She gave him a furious expression before turning away, making Akane giggle as she poked the young man.

"Looks like you're in trouble with her," the perverted scientist said, barely able to keep herself back from teasing the unfortunate man. "By the way, I'm not going to be around tomorrow, or for a long time after that as well. Unfortunately something just came up that needs my attention."

"Is it this long lost love of yours or something?" Mars asked with curiosity.

Akane shook her head. "No, not this time. If you weren't so attached to Lady Black Sister I'd have asked you to join me, you're fun to tease."

"Oh shut up," Mars responded as he glared at Akane. Despite the whole opening ceremony looking rather drab to him, the young man did have to admit that it was impressive, and he could not wait to start testing his mettle against monsters in the arena.

* * *

"Grah!" Mars yelled as he cleaved his way through several denizen monsters of Planeptune and Leanbox, including a small, floating turret that was sliced in two. The young man swung his two one-handed battleaxes around in a furious swipe, slashing apart creature after creature, turning them into pixels, scattering them into the wind that blew through the arena. After slashing an axe through the head of an unfortunate subspecies of the common Dogoo, the short battle was over and the gates reopened. The small small crowd cheered as Mars left, applauding his well won yet short fight.

It had been a few days since the opening of the Colosseum, and there had already been some changes to it. Firstly, the opening hours extended throughout most of the weekend and a friday afternoon as well, but that was to be amended if needed; secondly, despite people vs monster fights being the most common spectacle, it was going to be changed very soon. After the opening ceremony Mars had approached Uni back at the Basilicom to give her the books and confess his feelings, only the latter part never happened. Instead the two of them spent the rest of the day, and the day after that, in silence, never being able to understand each other's feelings and emotions. Mars found it all too frustrating.

When Mars returned to the reception area, ready to wait for Uni, Noire, Neptune and Nepgear to return from the small crowd, he bumped into a familiar brunette. It was IF, the Wind Walker of Gamindustri and proud member of the Planeptune Guild. The green eyed Guild Agent smiled as she looked at Mars, she seemed pleased to see him at any rate. "Good fighting out there, Mars, you sure are one tough guy, wouldn't mind having a round against you," she said, praising his skill, for a moment. "But you're kinda sloppy as with it as well, as if you just want to make the first blow the final hit."

"I'll take in into consideration," Mars responded, not all too happy with IF's criticism. Without much to say he decided on smalltalk, there was something he wanted to ask her anyway. "So, what's up with the lack of people? There here hundreds just a few days ago."

"I doubt anyone would have much time on a weekday, being at work and all that, even Guild members such as myself would have a hard time coming here on a daily basis," the Guild Agent explained, gazing at the very short amount of people that were around. As she continued to look around the Guild Agent locked eyes with four approaching people. "Looks like your main crowd is here."

Mars turned around to see Uni, Noire, Neptune and Nepgear walking towards him and IF, out of the four only three seemed to be impressed, the fourth - Noire - was just her usual self. Neptune bounced over to the young man and stuck her thumb up at him while smiling brightly. "Good job out there, Mars, you sure taught those beasts not to mess with Planeptune."

"Just doing what I signed up for," Mars replied with, shrugging his shoulders. The young man then gazed at Uni, a worried look appeared on his face. "You sure you want to go ahead and fight an actual person? You aren't worried that you could kill them?"

"Maybe Historie should change that," Nepgear muttered quietly to herself.

"Pfft, I can take him on, it's his fault for challenging me to a fight in the first place," Uni responded, flexing her arms out to stretch the muscles.

It was true though, an anonymous person had formally challenged the CPU Candidate of Lastation via an announcement in the Colosseum, shocking everyone who had heard it. No one knew who the challenger was, but it sounded as if he really wanted to fight Uni. It made both Noire and Mars worried for the Lastationite Candidate, and they made their concerns known, especially since Uni's fight was up next.

"I don't think you should go ahead with this challenge, Uni. Who knows what crazy madman has in store for you. It is the first time a person has issued a challenge to anyone, especially a CPU," Noire stated, her arms crossed underneath her arms and her gaze directed at her younger sister.

"Of course I can handle it, I'm not some weakling you know!" Uni responded in an annoyed tone. "Don't treat me like a kid, I can handle some cocky asshole who thinks he can beat a CPU Candidate. Just watch me." The raven haired Candidate then stormed off back down the corridor, this time for the arena.

Noire sighed sadly and glanced away, unhappy with herself that she made Uni annoyed at her. Mars looked over at the patron CPU of Lastation, his stern expression drilling into her depressed look as she glanced at him. "Don't worry about it, Noire, it'll be fine," Mars reassuringly told her. The young man then locked eyes with Nepgear, who nodded firmly in his direction with a stern smile. "I'll catch up with the lot of you in the spectator stands, I've got to do something real quick."

The young man quickly dashed off after Uni, leaving the rest of the group behind with questioning looks, except for Nepgear and Neptune, both of them knew who Mars was going after. As the group made their way down the corridor to the spectator seats, Mars rushed after Uni, hoping to catch up with the annoyed CPU Candidate who always believed she was kept back in her sister's shadow. After a short time had passed the young man found Uni in a waiting room, ready to enter the arena and face her mysterious foe. The Candidate of Lastation was sitting down on a bench with her back to the wall, her gaze was staring down sadly at the floor; she seemed upset about her short outburst of frustration against Noire. As Mars' footsteps resonated through the room Uni looked up and realised who was approaching her.

"M-Mars," was all she could mutter after several seconds of silent staring, her cheeks red. The Candidate turned her gaze away from the young man and gripped her dress tightly, her fingers twitching uncontrollably; it looked like Uni would have started crying at any moment. "I'm such an idiot, to yell at Noire like that and storm off without apologising. Go ahead, criticize me, make fun of me, I'm all ears. Some things never change."

Mars looked at Uni with pity in his eyes, he felt sorry for her. To see the young woman so conflicted, so torn up mentally, never feeling that she was really wanted, always wanting to escape her sister's shadow, it made the scruffy haired man feel sad for her and made him want to look out for her in any way possible. He always did try and it ended up with him gaining feelings towards the CPU Candidate, which was something that Mars never regretted. The young man knelt down onto one knee and embraced Uni in a tight hug, resting his head on the Candidate's left shoulder, his cheeks burning red, as were Uni's.

"Listen to me, Uni, you're a strong and capable woman, there's no need for you to get all depressed just because you think you aren't the best goddess around, or that you feel insignificant. You may have given up believing in yourself, but you taught me the exact opposite. You're not useless, Uni, far from it. Stop holding yourself back and convincing yourself that you're in Noire's shadow, you've achieved in areas which that loner couldn't deal with." Mars then drew back from the CPU Candidate, his hands resting on Uni's shoulders as he stared sternly at her. "You're an amazing person, Uni, never forget that. I'll always have my faith in you."

The raven haired Candidate's face flushed bright red, her words could barely be heard as she stuttered unintelligibly while her gaze was directed at the young man's face. Suddenly she felt a rush of energy flow through her body; it felt familiar, she had felt it before. "Did… did you actually just put your faith in me?" Uni asked in a flabbergasted tone.

The young man nodded with an embarrassed look. "Y-Yeah, I did. You're my goddesses now, Uni." Mars then let his grip on the CPU Candidate loose and stood back while she stood up. "Now then, get ready to kick some ass."

That comment appeared to help Uni get over her embarrassment, she nodded firmly and a grin formed across her face. "Alright then, I will. Th-Th-Thanks, Mars." The Candidate of Lastation quickly transformed into Black Sister and stood defiantly with a prideful expression. "You better get going, wouldn't want the others to worry about where you've gone."

Mars nodded as he began to leave. "Alright then. Good luck out there, Uni, I'll be cheering you on. Don't lose, especially since I want to tell you something important later." The young man walked out of the room with a final wave, leaving the CPU Candidate's sight.

 _Thank you for everything you've done for me, Mars, even for putting your faith in me._ Black Sister thanked the young man silently in her thoughts. Her attention was later caught by the announcer, who was calling out to the crowd in a booming voice as the arena doors opened. As Black Sister stepped out into the bright violet coloured arena the crowd cheered, eager to see the Lastationite Candidate battle it out against her mysterious foe. The silver haired goddess glanced up into the crowd above and saw Nepgear, Neptune, IF, Noire and Mars sitting together, their eyes set upon the Candidate herself. She looked up at Mars and winked at him, a happy smile adorned her face. _That settle it, I have to tell him… I have to tell Mars how I feel about him. Later, I'll do it later. I won't falter again. Never again!_

"Ladies, gentlemen, and goddesses, today we have an unexpected yet undoubtedly exciting match between the CPU Candidate of Lastation, Black Sister, and someone who is unknown to any of us, someone who seemed to have a grudge against our beloved Black Sister, someone who wants to fight this CPU Candidate until he cannot stand any longer," the announcer bellowed through the loudspeakers, causing the spectators to rise up in a loud and booming voice, they seemed too eager to know who the challenger was. Just then the other arena door opened upwards, and a hooded man in a dark blue coat, a blue tank top that clung tightly to his body, black jeans and combat boots, passed through and entered the arena.

"The name is Ares, I am a God of War, and I am the challenger," the dark blue hooded man cried out, his blue eyes turning blood red as Anti-Energy resonated from his body. "Now then, let's make this interesting, shall we?"

Black Sister snarled at the young War God as she materialised her oversized weapon, aiming it straight at Ares. "You. I'll make you pay for what you did to Mars!"

Ares tilted his head, a crazed look of bloodlust crept over his face. "Really? Well then, I'm gonna make you pay for shooting Enyo in the head. Let's see how you like having a glaive stuck in your gullet!"

The rules of the fight were simple: no killing. But that did little to ease Black Sister's or Ares' anger towards each other, instead it was more than likely that the two of them would 'forget' the rules and try to kill each other. Silence reigned for what felt like an eternity, then the announcer bellowed one word which everyone had been anxiously waiting for. "BEGIN!"

Ares was the first to charge into the fight. He summoned forth his blood red glaive into his hands and swung it at Black Sister with an almighty warcry, but he missed. The CPU Candidate swiftly flew into the air as the blade came towards her, rushing up to gain the high ground; she was silently grateful for the roof being open at that time. Once the silverette was safely in the air she aimed her mighty energy blaster weapon at the War God down below, ready to give him the punishment of a lifetime. " **EX Multi Blaster!** " the Candidate shouted as a bright blue beam of energy burst out from her weapon and straight in Ares' direction.

The young man barely dodged the attack, missing it by only a few inches; the brim of his coat had been burnt by the searing energy blast. He looked upwards and snarled. "This is my favourite coat, you damn whore! Get down here so I can thrash you!"

"Screw you. I'm staying up here where I can defeat you easily," Black Sister replied as she fired round after round of hot, blue energy at the War God, forcing him to move around the battlefield in a hurried manner. Suddenly one of Black Sister's energy rounds collided into Ares' right waist, sending him across the field and into the wall with a loud thud. The Lastationite Candidate grinned smugly as she took aim once more. "This was too easy. You shouldn't have challenged me and my superior skills. I'm a lot more tougher than Mars, so this was your final mistake."

Mars did not like it when Black Sister mentioned that she was stronger than him, but she was probably right though, if one was to take out the fact that Mars could use the power of an Anti-Crystal. As the CPU Candidate readied herself for what she believed would be the final, killing blow, Noire heard Mars hum to himself thoughtfully. The patron CPU of Lastation turned her head around to her left to face the young man with a questioning gaze. "What's wrong with you now? Don't tell me you're angry with Uni's comment about how weak you are. She's right you know," Norie asked with a smug look.

Mars shook his head. "No, it isn't that, it's what Ares' plan might be. He's going down too quickly, far too quickly. He's up to something."

"Or maybe Ares is just having a bad day or something, maybe he isn't as strong as you said he was. That too is possible, and more than likely true as well," Noire retorted in a matter-of-fact tone.

"No, Mars is right, that guy down there is up to something," IF chirped in as she knelt her head down between Mars and Noire, formerly dropping into their conversation as Ares got out of the way from Black Sister's attacks, ducking and running around to evade her. "I think he's accessing his chances of victory, or maybe even trying to tire Uni out by forcing her to use up her energy against him. We'll see what happens next though, and hopefully Mars and I are wrong."

Black Sister growled as Ares kept dodging her attacks, only a few had actually hit him and he merely shrugged it off as if it was nothing, his Anti-Energy healed him up quickly. The CPU Candidate fired another round, this time it hit the War God's back. The young man cried out in pain and smashed into another area of the circular wall, he slide down and fell onto his knees while his Anti-Energy healed his back up; the crowd was silent as they stared at the two combatants. Black Sister grinned as Ares looked up at her with an enraged expression. "Ready to throw in the towel yet?" the silver haired Candidate asked as she aimed her mighty energy gun at the young man. "I was just getting warmed up, too."

What surprised Black Sister, and mostly everyone but Mars and IF, was when Ares chuckled as he grabbed his glaive back in one hand. "That's one weakness spotted, let's see how many else I can find," the War God said with a wicked grin, shocking the CPU Candidate. "Weakness number one: too cocky, over confident and overly sure of your abilities. Now then, let's get this true fight started right now!"

Ares grinned malevolently as his body lit up in Anti-Energy, it was much denser than before and it wavered around like visible gas or a candle flame, wavering around with ill intent. Suddenly Ares shot his left hand out towards Black Sister as Anti-Energy gathered up in the palm. " **Bolide!** " the young man shouted as the blood red energy mixed with fire burst out from his hand and struck towards the CPU Candidate, she swerved out of the way to only notice too soon that the War God had caught up with her in the air.

"Wha?!" Black Sister exclaimed before she was struck across the gut with the end of the glaive handle, sending her back down to earth. The silver haired goddess managed to avoid crashing, but she was left wide open to an attack, which was what happened. Black Sister was swiftly smashed by the glaive handle again, sending her across the battlefield with a pained expression. "Tch. You asshole, I'll get you for that."

The Lastationite Candidate flew back into the air and witnessed Ares catching up to her by jumping off the arena walls, his feet heavily encased with Anti-Energy, propelling him towards his target. Black Sister readied her giant gun and fired it straight at Ares, it hit him straight in the chest, hurdling the young man back to the ground in a bright blue and blood red display of energy. The War God crashed into the wall, surprising the nearby spectators with the small amount of debris that went everywhere. Ares got back onto his feet and began to fire more projectiles of fiery Anti-Energy at Black Sister, who did her best to avoid them at all cost.

She swerved around and over the projectiles while firing round after round at the young man, she managed to gain a hit when Ares attempted to propel himself into the air again and sent him to the ground on his back, where he was bombarded by another of Black Sister's special attacks. " **XMB: Empress!** " the silverette shouted as she rapid fired energy rounds at the young man from above. He screamed in pain as the attack withered away at his body, his Anti-Energy barely quickly enough to regenerate this flesh, bones and skin.

At any rate, Mars was highly impressed with Black Sister's skill, it had been quite some time since he had seen her in action, but witnessing the CPU Candidate of Black Regality fighting it out with an opponent that could defeat her with one touch of his Anti-Energy simply amazed him. _She's so agile, highly maneuverable, so strong, and pretty smart too. No wonder I love her. Heh, agile and maneuverable, if Akane was here she would've made some sort of dirty joke._ Mars thought as he continued to watch the one he loved beat the crap out of Ares from the air.

"Had enough yet?" Black Sister demanded with a grin. "Just give up already before I throw you into the trash where you belong."

As Ares struggled onto his feet, his unnatural grin never subsiding, two figures in the crowd opposite of the goddesses and Mars gazed at the fight below, both were interested in it for very different reasons. The blonde, dark green eyed woman looked over at her orange haired, brown eyed companion and noticed the slightly blood-crazed look on his face. "You alright there, Sir Laran? You seem to be… a little too involved with this," the shapeshifting woman asked.

"Oh I'm Fine, Enyo, completely fine," Laran responded as he stared at the blood that Ares spilt onto the ground, the blood-crazed sadist licked his lips and turned his attention over to Black Sister, where he licked his lips again, but it was more out of a perverted thought rather than anything else. "Still, you seem to be most displeased about this whole setup, I can tell."

"How can I not? I'm worried about him. What happens if he does actually get killed? I wouldn't forgive myself for that, nor would I forgive Project Mars or the Director," Enyo whispered harshly at the young man, seemingly forgetting that he was a sadist who hated people that spoke to him in such a rude manner. She almost regretted speaking.

Laran grabbed Enyo by the neck and began to suffocate her, his eyes stared coldly into hers as the crowd cheered, their attention too focused on seeing Black Sister and Ares engage in close quarter combat, much to the Candidate's displeasure. "Now now now, where's all that respect and fear for me gone, eh? Do I need to beat it into you again?" the sadistic man said with a twisted grin. "I know how you feel for Ares, everyone in Project Ares knows how much you love him. What a sick feeling, it makes my stomach want to puke all over you. Just let Ares do his thing, he has some sort of plan and I want to see where this goes. Just remember this: if Ares fails to get Mars back to the old man and if you fail to help in the task to kill the CPUs, then I am authorised to terminate the both of you."

Enyo was relieved when Laran withdrew and walked away, most likely to go to the cafeteria to grab a drink. The blonde woman sighed after rubbing the pain away from her throat, she then turned her attention back towards the fight, from the look of it the duel was starting to heat up. "Please get through this alive, Ares," Enyo muttered.

The duel between Ares and Black Sister was becoming more and more intense, the crowd more and more wild, the Lastationite Candidate's friends and family were starting to become more and more worried for her safety. The fight had now been going on for a solid ten to twenty minutes, both combatants were giving it their all, both firing all they had into the fight, sweating furiously and yelling profoundly. But eventually, Black Sister was in some trouble, all because she was being forced to fight in close quarter combat with Ares. The War God had forced the CPU Candidate onto the ground by throwing shards of Anti-Energy into the air in all directions, this had forced her onto the ground and on the defence, which was something the silverette was not accustomed to, she had even been struck a few times. The young man repeatedly swung his glaive at the Candidate, landing blow after blow against her oversized energy gun, sparks were sent flying. As Black Sister was forced back, her black booted heels digging into the firm ground, Ares stabbed his long blade into the ground and began to channel his Anti-Energy through his arms, the blood red energy crackled like electricity.

"Weakness number two: worst defence ever," Ares said, informing Black Sister and the crowd. "The defence is a good offence, but if your back is against the wall then how will you fight then? Come on, give me a fight! Fight me!" The War God swung his arms forward, releasing the Anti-Energy at Black Sister. The ground was torn apart and burned as the blood red energy surged onwards.

Black Sister barely got out of the way in time, she jumped away from the attack and barely missed it, but it left her open to a savage strike to the face. Ares smashed his glaive into the Candidate's face, sending her across the ground. Her HDD suit was now covered in dirt, splatters of blood and was also tattered in several areas. She spat out some blood before the long handle of the glaive was struck across her face again, this time she crashed into the wall, crying out in pain. The War God merely grinned and raised his glaive over the right side of his head; he wanted to slice her head off. "Say your prayers, CPU Candidate!" Ares exclaimed, his glaive rushing downward towards Black Sister's neck.

Amidst the outcry from the crowd, especially from Noire, Nepgear and Mars, the CPU Candidate cried out in anger as she swiftly grabbed her oversized gun and brought it in front of her, blocking the incoming attack. "Not today, not today. I will never lose to someone like you!" the silver haired Candidate yelled as she forced the young man back. " **Radiant Bullet!** "

The energised bullet that Black Sister shot collided with Ares and exploded, the young man cried out in pain as he flew across the battlefield, tumbling across the ground as his clothing tore apart. As the silver haired Candidate stood up, grimacing as she walked over to Ares and took aim at his head. "Alright then, Ares, this is for… Mars?"

As the dust settled and Ares looked up at Black Sister, the young man's dark blue coat had been torn to shreds by the constant attacks and the hurdling over the ground, so when Black Sister approached him the War God's favourite coat was barely usable, thus revealing his hair and his arms. Ares had short yet scruffy grey hair, his blue eyes seemed to shine alongside his grey hair, but what was most astonishing was the dragon mark on his upper left arm. For some reason, now that his coat and hood were practically gone, the silver haired Candidate realised that her opponent looked similar to someone she knew. "Wha… why do you look like Mars?" Black Sister asked, her voice almost quiet.

"You dare compare me to that asshole?! Fuck you, too!" Ares shouted as he leapt forward and punched the Candidate in the gut with his Anti-Energy encased right fist.

The simple act of Anti-Energy touching her body was enough for Black Sister to stay frozen on the ground, her HDD form disappeared and she reverted back to human form; Uni's body trembled as she felt herself cut off from the source of her power, the power of Share Energy. The Candidate had been warned many times by Histoire and Noire that she had to look out for herself whenever she was up against anyone who was an Anti-Crystal, like Mars. Now their warnings mattered little to her, all Uni wanted was to get back onto her feet and continue the fight, yet she couldn't, and she knew it. _I feel weak, too weak to continue. Damn Anti-Crystals, damn them to the Gamindustri Graveyard!_

But Uni's troubles were not over. Ares got back onto his feet, grinned and picked up the CPU Candidate by the throat, encasing her in more Anti-Energy. Uni knew that if a CPU was exposed to too much Anti-Energy then they would die, that seemed to be the War God's plan. The ravenite tried to escape from his grasp, yet her strength failed. With her arms and legs now limp, as was the rest of her body, Ares tightened his grip, ready to kill the Candidate despite the rules and the outcry of the crowd. "Time to die, CPU," the grey haired man muttered. The final stroke never happened.

Ares was wrenched away from Uni so suddenly that neither of them, or the crowd, noticed until the last second. The War God lost his grip on the Candidate and was forced into the nearby wall, Uni meanwhile fell to the ground and was barely caught by helping hands. She looked up and was met with the frightened face of Black Heart, who was more than worried for her younger sister. "Are you alright? Can you speak? Say something!" Black Heart exclaimed as she shook Uni.

"Y-Yeah… I'm fine," Uni replied weakly. She looked over to where Ares was pinned up against the wall and saw the one who saved her, though she would never admit it as a rescue. Her eyes widened as she saw who it was. "Mars?"

It was Mars. The young, scruffy brown haired man had pinned Ares to the wall with an axe against his throat, the War God meanwhile had a knife up against the young man;s throat, a wicked smile formed across his face. "So, come out of hiding already? Pathetic weaklings, the lot of you!" Ares shouted, yet he could not hide the bloodlust that was creeping into his soul.

"Fucking bastard, I'll kill you for this!" Mars yelled, the tip of his blade started to dig into Ares' neck, blood dripped down his sleeveless top. Yet now with the hood and coat gone, Mars could start to see the resemblance that the mad War God had with his own looks, their facial structure was almost the same, as were their eyes and the strange dragon markings.

As the rest of the goddesses ascended into the arena while IF sent the crowd away, clearing the Colosseum from spectators, Enyo and Laran stood nearby with their gazes upon the group below. The blonde shapeshifter glanced between Mars and Ares, barely able to understand it at all; eventually she sighed sadly. "So now I understand the weird feeling I would always get around Mars, the feeling that I knew him from somewhere. Now it makes sense."

"What does? Care to explain?" Laran asked.

"Ares and Mars are brother. Long lost brothers. The person that Ares and I thought was long dead is still alive, and he's our mortal enemy," Enyo explained sadly. The dark green eyed woman sighed again as she watched the two young man be separated by a returned IF, they then watched as the War God walked away, disappearing from their sight. _Things are only going to get more difficult from here on out. Maybe, just maybe… I need Mars' help, and he needs me for answers, even though he doesn't yet know it. Things are going to get out of hand in a few days, I just know it._ Indeed it would, for no one could have predicted what was to come in three days time.

* * *

 **A/N: Whelp, this has been the longest chapter I have ever written for any story in my life, not sure how I feel about it though. So, this chapter was filled with all sorts of goodies, from love advice, to some lore I'm developing (maybe though, don't want to give too much away now), to perverted thoughts, to the opening of the Colosseum, to the fight between Uni and Ares, and of course the big reveal between Mars and Ares. Some of you readers probably already guessed the identity of Ares' older brother, so this just merely confirms it. Good guessing. I wish I did a little more with the Uni and Ares fight, but thoughts are hard to get down into words when it concerns fights. Anyway, the next chapter will take some time, mainly because it's going to be heavily action packed and I'll be delving into a bit of lore and backstories as well. Until then, leave a comment, give advice or just do anything really, and have a good day.**


	25. Wrath of a Dovah

**Chapter 24: Wrath of a Dovah**

Three days. That was all the time Mars had for his confrontation with Ares in the Colosseum of Planeptune. Just three days of training his ass off to beat the highly ambitious and bloodthirsty War God into the dirt once and for all. It did not seem like a lot of time, but for Mars it was just enough time to get into the mindset of utterly annihilating the grey haired Anti-Crystal user. After Mars and Noire interrupted the vicious and deadly duel between Uni and Ares things would have escalated out of control had it not been for Enyo, the shapeshifting woman managed to convince everyone to a rematch, but instead Mars would serve as the combatant in Uni's place. The Lastationite CPU Candidate was too worn out to even object, so the motion was passed by the other Goddesses that were there, including Histoire, Mars and Ares themselves. It was decided that Mars and Ares would fight in three days time once the next day arrived, giving time for both sides to prepare themselves.

Soon after, however, Ares and Enyo disappeared from the Colosseum and Planeptune all together; no one knew where they went, and in the end no one really cared, especially Mars. However, with only around three days to train before competing in probably one of the most bloodiest fights he would ever be in, the young man of Lastation came to a decision. He would train alone in the wilderness, away from the city aspects of the country he had come to call home and away from the only person he had ever increasing feelings for. Mars never told them about his decision, instead he left them a letter that explained his reasoning, which basically said that he did not want any distractions from anyone or anything, and that he would appreciate it if they did not go looking for him. The young, scruffy haired man knew that they would most likely go looking for him, he knew that Uni would once she fully recovered from all the Anti-Energy that had been used against her, but he hoped that they would just stay away so he could train in peace; plus it gave him some time to think about how he was supposed to confess his feelings to Uni, especially now that those feelings had only increased dramatically.

Mars had planned to sleep out in the wilderness with the tent he had purchased back in Lastation before he left and live off the supplies he also brought along with him, he would find anything else he needed from the wilderness around him. He had lived off the land over the last two years before his chance meeting with Uni inside the Ancient Dragon lair in the Brown Mountains, so the young man was experienced with it all. Mars' camp was located in the small forest that surrounded the south-west edge of the Brown Mountains, it had a small freshwater river that flowed down from the mountains, through the small forest and out into the small sea channel between the southernmost coast of Lastation and the northern coast of Leanbox.

In the centre of the small forest was an open space filled with a small patchwork of old cobblestone, rocks and grass, the small river from the Brown Mountains was flowing along nearby. In the centre of the glade stood Mars. His back was straight, his arms were by his sides, his hands were still, his eyes were closed as a small breeze blew through the glade, sending his hair in all sorts of directions; a sense of calmness appeared to have been washed over him. As the breeze subsided the young man sighed and walked over to the flowing, cold river, he looked into the water and stared sternly at his reflection. Mars noticed how his scruffy was starting to become a little wild, there was even facial hair growing about as well, even that looked a little scruffy and unkempt.

"Heh, if my clothes were covered in dirt and I had a twig or two in my hair I think I could pass as some crazy old bastard who lives in the wilderness," Mars mumbled to himself in amusement. "Funny, I don't think I've appeared to have aged at all since Project Mars was turned into a pile of Dogoo shit two years ago. Is that normal, or does it have something to do with that fricking Anti-Crystal?"

"It's normal, although your genes will make you appear young for a long, long time," a womanly voice called out from the trees around the young man, causing him to swiftly glance around the area with a suspicious glare. After a minute had passed Mars was still in his guard, then the voice spoke again. "It's alright, Mars, I'm not here to harm you, in fact I'm here for a completely different reason. Stay, and I will explain what I can to you, but I need something from you."

"Who are you? Show yourself already!" Mars bellowed as he grabbed one of his beretta pistols from its holster. He sniffed the air and realised that he recognised the smell, yet for some reason that he could not explain it smelt as if Enyo, the battle companion of Ares, was around, yet there was also the scent of the oversized raven as well; both smelled the same yet also slightly different. "Alright then, come out of hiding, Enyo, and your bloody raven as well."

"Hmm, your sense of smell is getting better. Very well then." Soon enough Mars watched as the dark green eyed raven appeared out of the trees and land in front of him, it was then that the young man was in for a shock. The raven became surrounded by dark green as it began to rise higher and higher, taking a human form as the supernatural energy completely enveloped the being before him. As it began to dissipate Mars continued to watch as the raven turned into a human with feather sticking out of her body, then he realised who it was as the dark green energy disappeared and the feathers withdrew back into the woman's body. It was Enyo. She looked at Mars and could not help but smirk as she brushed aside her blonde bangs from her forehead. "Heh, weren't expecting that, were you?"

Indeed, Mars was utterly shocked to see the oversized raven that constantly spied on him turned into an enemy, but it was the knowledge of knowing that Enyo was an enemy that shook his out of his daze. The young man stood back, snarled and raised his handgun directly towards her forehead. "I don't know how you managed to do that, but all I care about is that you're an enemy, War God."

"War Goddess, thank you very much. Some of us can afford the upgrade," Enyo replied back in a snarky tone as she crossed her arms.

"Whatever, just give me a reason why I shouldn't shoot you between those dark green eyes of yours. Tell me!" Mars demanded as he pressed the barrel of the beretta pistol against Enyo's forehead. However, to his surprise he noticed that the War Goddess was looking at him with deep pools of sadness in her eyes, her lips were quivering and her limbs were shaking ever so slightly. What surprised the young man even more was that she was making no attempt to fight back. "The hell? I thought you War Gods, or War Goddesses, always fought back when in this situation, so why aren't you doing that?"

"Because I have no reason to do so," Enyo replied back as she stared into Mars' blue eyes. "I've come here not to fight, but to talk. Please, just hear me out."

"And why the hell should I do that?" Mars asked, his triggerfinger was almost twitching with anticipation.

"Because I know who you are, who you truly are," Enyo responded, never taking her eyes of Mars and never blinking.

"What are you talking about? I'm Mars, nothing more and nothing less." Mars was getting confused, and more than a little annoyed with the whole conversation. The only reason the young man had not pulled the trigger was because he could tell that there was something that Enyo wanted to tell him.

"That may be so for you right now, but it isn't for me. I know who you are, I know your past, I know your true name. Please, just let me explain everything," Enyo pleaded, tears started to swell around the corners of her eyes. "I know all of this because we're childhood friends, at least we were until this whole Project Mars shit happened."

This small piece of news alone was enough to shock Mars' brain, maybe even fry it. The young man, after a short moment, lowered the handgun and stared at Enyo as if she was crazy and was telling a lie, yet there was a voice going off in his head saying that she was telling the truth. "I… I don't know know what to say, or think," Mars said in disbelief as he took a step back. It would have been reasonable for him to not believe what Enyo said, but he could tell that she was not lying, the sadness that he was so accustomed to throughout his remembered life was in her expression.

Enyo's face lit up with a small smile. "I know how you feel, truly I do. It's usually a shock for me whenever I regain my memories after I get in and out of Project Ares." The blonde woman sat down on a nearby log and gazed back at Mars, who was still staring at her. "I'm sure you have a lot of questions, so please do ask me anything, and I'll do my best to answer them."

Mars sighed deeply and sat down on a separate log near Enyo, there were many questions he wanted to ask her, but the first one that came to mind was her transformation. "So, how the fuck did you manage to do that transforming shapeshifting thing? Is it a new thing for Anti-Crystal users?"

Enyo shook her head and let out a giggle. "No, Project Ares is nowhere near anything like that, and they never will be. My shapeshifting ability is genetic and is - was - passed down from generation to generation, it was the same thing with all the other clans."

"Clans? What clans?" Mars asked He was still finding it a bit too weird to be sitting near someone who was supposed to be an enemy, but he did his best to overlook that detail, the young man was focused on getting knowledge about everything he could get out of Enyo.

"I'm not surprised that you don't know, in fact I'm sure that nearly all of the human and CPU population in Gamindustri don't know about the Great Clans," Enyo began to explain as she brushed the hair hanging over her forehead aside once more as another light breeze blew through the glade. "While I may be a part of a clan I'm afraid that I don't know a great lot about the others, let alone the legend of my own as well. The Great Clans have been in existence since the the earliest days of Gamindustri's history, when that exactly was I have no idea. I don't know how many clans there are or were, but I know for a fact that there are at least a few, maybe three to four, that are still around yet secluded from society."

"What clan do you belong to?" Mars asked, his curiosity about the Great Clans could not be contained.

"The Raven Clan. Unfortunately I'm the last of my clan, the others are… gone from this world," Enyo replied, yet she quickly regretted even responding to the question. Mars could see the grief that fell across the young woman's face, her eyes fell to the grassy ground around her feet and her fingers twitched uncontrollably. "I-I'm sorry, but I rather not talk about it."

Mars sighed and a hint of sadness appeared in his stoic expression, so instead of pursuing the conversation he decided to change it. "Well, can you at least tell me how many clans there are now? What happened to them all, besides yours of course?"

As soon as Enyo had calmed down she answered Mars' questions. "Hmm... honestly, I don't know the answer to those questions I'm afraid, but I've heard of a few other clans that existed, and may still exist. There were the Raven Clan, the Kitsune Clan, the Wolf Clan, the Roc Clan, the Lion Clan, the Lycra Clan, the Naga Clan and, last but not least, the Dov Clan - the Dragon Clan. They're the only clans that I know about, I also know for a fact that just about all of them, and even more that I don't know about, are extinct. As for the clans that are alive today… I don't know, well, except for my own and one other at least."

"What happened to them all, then?" Mars asked, wondering what half of the clan names even meant.

"The Dragon War," Enyo replied, then she began to tell the short version of the tale about the Dragons of old. "This was thousands of years ago though, so neither us were alive then. The story I got told was that the Dragon Clan were the mightiest of all the Great Clans and ruled Gamindustri before a time when Goddesses existed, they lorded over the common people and many of the other clans, imposing laws, tribute, and monuments in their glory. However, they became cruel and began to misuse their power; thousands died in their name for sport. The people's faith for balance, for unity, for revenge manifested itself into Share Energy, and from that came the first CPUs in existence to be born: Magenta Heart and Turquoise Heart. The two CPUs, along with just about all of the common people, even other Great Clans and a few rebel Dragons, banded together to take the fight to the Dragon Clan."

"So what happened? I'm guessing that the Dragon Clan lost, am I right?"

Enyo nodded. "That's correct. Yet I was told that despite the allied forces having much larger numbers than their foes, it was a tough and bloody war; it lasted for many years and spanned across all of Gamindustri. Finally, after almost a decade of fighting, the final battle took place around the Snowy Mountains, the very same mountain range that dots the very centre of Gamindustri. The battle raged on for an entire day, and by the end of it so much blood had been spilt. But the CPUs and their allies were at last successful. Vulthur, leader of the Dragon Clan, was defeated by the Goddesses and his own brother, Kronstrunal. Afterwards the surviving Dragons disappeared, and the Great Clans that managed to survive also disappeared. Thus Gamindustri was carved into two separate nations, but the newfound peace only lasted a thousands years before it was torn apart by their successors, Obsidian Heart and Crimson Heart."

The blonde woman breathed in and out heavily, the short yet informative tale about the Dragon War, the disappearance of the Great Clans, and the eventual war between the successor CPUs had drained her breath and energy, not that she really minded though. After regaining her breath and posture, the War Goddess of Project Ares returned her attention back towards Mars, who was waiting as patiently as he could. "Well, that's about it for the Dragon War and the Great Clans. I'm afraid that's all I really know about them, anything else that I could have remembered is most likely erased from my memory. Anyway, was there anything else you wanted to ask?"

The young, scruffy haired man nodded; there were many questions that he wanted to ask Enyo, some of which were a lot more important to him than the Great Clans and the Dragon War of old. After taking a few sips of water from his waterskin, which he offered to the young woman, Mars stared firmly at the War Goddess and asked more questions. "There's something that's bothering me ever since you arrived. You said that we're childhood friends, yet I don't remember you at all."

"That can be easily forgiven, considering that you were captured randomly one day and forced into Project Mars as a test subject for the best part of a decade," Enyo said in response, forgiving the young man as she gave him back his waterskin. "Your memories would have been tampered with by Maximilian, making you forget everything about your past, leaving only huge gaps and an almost untamable rage. Yes, we are childhood friends, and Ares is your younger brother, well, younger half-brother to be exact."

Mars sighed and shook his head sadly. "I guessed that Ares and I were brother. That's just fuckin' fantastic," he grumbled sarcastically, his anger starting to rise for a short moment before calming down. "Wait, half-brothers? The hell's up with that?"

"You both share the same father, but different mothers. After the destruction of my clan your father took me in, can't remember why though. Your mother wasn't around when I arrived, but Ares' mother was. She was posh and all that shit; never liked her, not even Ares." The War Goddess let out a light chuckle and shook her head in amusement. "Heh, it's funny really. Ares and I were inseparable when we were kids, always hanging around each other day and night; some things just never change."

"How can you even stand to be around him? He's a bloodthirsty monster!" Mars exclaimed. "He almost killed me a while back, not to mention he tried to kill Uni yesterday! I hate him. You're a fool for being a… whatever it is you are with him."

Enyo let out an enraged growl as her dark green eyes lit up in Anti-Energy, her fists clenched together as spark of blood red energy crackled around her. "You're one to talk. Being friends with that CPU Candidate of Lastation, even being in love with her, it's… it's… it's just pathetic! The CPUs are just as bad as the people of Project Ares, I hate them all!" Soon afterwards the young woman sighed sadly as her Anti-Energy calmed down and dissipated. "I-I'm sorry, I-I-I shouldn't have said that. Still, being in love with a goddess is beyond ridiculous."

Mars was quite shocked to hear that Enyo of all people knew about his feelings towards Uni. "H-How did you know?" Mars asked, not even bothering to argue back with what she yelled before at him.

"Pfft, it was easy to tell that you're in love with that CPU Candidate, I'm merely impressed that she doesn't know about it, or her sister for that matter," Enyo began to explain to the young man. "You're all lovey-dovey with the Lastationite Candidate and you don't even try. It's kind of sickening to see someone like you attempt to be with a goddess, it's also ironic really."

Mars raised an eyebrow in response to to Enyo's comment. "What's so ironic about it, eh? You gonna tell why?"

Enyo waved her hand dismissively and sighed. "It's nothing to worry about, I just don't like CPUs, the family you came from didn't like them either. Let's just leave it at that. So, anything else?"

Mars nodded firmly. "Yeah, there's something else that's bothering me. Why are you telling me all this? Also, where is Project Ares? Tell me."

The blonde, shapeshifting woman sighed, obviously what she had to say was not going to be good news for the young man. "Honestly, I have no idea where it is. I… think they wipe our memories of it clean, probably just in case we go rogue and try to make a run for it. I'm sorry, Mars, I really am." She looked at the scruffy haired man to see him rub his temples, he seemed displeased with the answer, yet he also believed her. Enyo had no reason to lie, especially since she knew that Mars could kill her at any time he wished. But she was not yet done with answering Mars' questions. "Also, the reason I'm telling you all this is because I need to ask you a favour, a big favour."

"A favour? The hell are you talking about?" Mars asked, weary about what Enyo was going to ask him, or offer him for that matter.

"I will help train you for the upcoming match if you can defeat Ares and get us out of Project Ares, I'm sick of the whole thing and need to get out," Enyo requested in an almost pleading tone, her eyes never wavering away from the young man in front of her. "You need me to help train you for the next three days, I guarantee it. Do this for me, please. We may be enemies now, but we were once close friends in our childhood, and now that I know who you are all I can see is the small child that would constantly want to play with me and his half-brother day after day, never letting that bright smile of yours disappear, no matter how dark the day got."

"But why? Why the hell would you want to help me? It just can't be because of all this past life crap that I can't remember, can it? If so then you're more pathetic than I first thought," Mars rebuked harshly with a grim look on his face. "Just spill the beans already, or I'll force it out of you."

Enyo gripped her jeans tightly as a tear fell down her face, dripping onto her right leg, her gaze directed to the ground below. "I… I love Ares, and that is why he needs to be defeated. He's been too corrupted by the Anti-Crystal inside him to see reason any more." She then looked back at Mars, letting him see the pain and sorrow in her expression. "You see, Anti-Crystal have another effect, besides giving a person almost superhuman abilities, they can corrupt the heart and soul of their user. If one was to think nothing more than negative thoughts and feel negative emotions then they will start to lose their minds, becoming nothing more than mindless killers with an insatiable bloodlust. I've seen it before, and it was horrifying to witness. I don't want to see anyone go through that again, especially not the only person left that I love. That's why he needs to be defeated, so you can knock him down a couple of notches, then I can take care of the rest."

"How can you even love someone like that? If the Anti-Crystal inside him is turning that asshole into a bloodthirsty killer then that's your problem. Why does it concern me? Why should it?" Mars responded as harshly as before, making his thoughts on the matter clear to the War Goddess.

This time the last member of the Raven Clan could not hold back the tears that were swelling around her eyes; they burst forth and she started to cry uncontrollably. "Please, I'm begging you, just let me help you train for the fight, I can help you develop new skills and sharpen old ones. There is more to you than you believe, you're more than just a prototype for the ultimate War God CPU Slayer, I know it. There's a hidden power within you that I can help unlock, I promise. I can sharpen your senses, your speed, your power attack, everything. Just let me help, for my sake."

Mars sighed, knowing that it was an interesting offer, plus Enyo would be teaching him about his supposed hidden power, which did not sound like a bad idea. However, her involvement with Project Ares was enough to make him hesitant towards the offer. But eventually, after sighing in defeat, he accepted the inevitable. "Fine then, you win, Enyo. Train me."

The blonde, dark green eyed woman began to cheer up as she heard Mars say that. "That's good to hear. Thank you, Vedrahkaal," Enyo said happily as she wiped the tears away.

The name that the shapeshifting War Goddess just said caused much confusion for the young man as he stood up alongside Enyo. "The hell you call me that for? The name is Mars, not… whatever that is," Mars said in a far from amused tone.

"That is your original name. Your true name," Enyo replied in a sad voice. "From the society you and Ares come from, newly born children are taken to a farseer and have their future read to their parents. Vedrahkaal means 'Black Deity Champion', meaning that you were going to be the champion of a black god, or goddess. I think it is coming true, don't you think? Fighting on Black Sister's behalf in the Colosseum, there's no mistaking it, you _are_ her champion." After chuckling to herself for a short moment she continued to speak. "Also, Ares was originally named 'Sosruth', that translates to 'Blood Rage'. It's definitely fitting for his personality."

The scruffy haired man sighed and stared sadly at his right hand, flexing it in front of his face. After many years of trying to figure out who he truly was, what his real name was, he finally knew, and all it took was to talk to someone who was supposed to be an enemy. However, after clearing his mind, Mars decided to put it all behind him and stick with the present. "Well, for the sake of the three day training regime I want to be called Mars, it's all I've ever known," Mars informed Enyo, who nodded in response, respecting his decision. "Now then, train me, Enyo. Train me to reach my full power. Teach me this hidden power, then I'll crush Ares with it"

* * *

Three days had passed and no sign of Mars had been seen, making a certain ravenite overly worried for his wellbeing, even though she did not voice it in fear of being ridiculed by either Noire, Nepear or Neptune. However, even though the CPU Candidate of Lastation did her best to remain calm and it was obvious to her older sister, their friends, and the general public, that she was highly concerned about the young man. What surprised the two CPUs of Lastation was that their citizens were starting to call Mars the 'Champion of Black Sister' in hype of the upcoming match between the Black Sister's 'champion' and Ares the War God. It was a hype that the Planeptunian Goddesses flamed even further, much to their own amusement.

Once the the three days were up Planeptune City found itself swamped by a whole horde of people ranging from Planeptune, Lastation and even Leanbox and Lowee, even the CPUs of those nations had arrived to witness to fight. It turned out that Blanc, Goddess of Lowee, was hesitant on coming due to an upcoming novelist convention, but after all the hype for the fight, that was mysteriously flamed by an anonymous person who would only call himself Sir Laran, the brown haired CPU was finally convinced to watch the fight thanks to her younger twin sisters, who wanted to watch the 'big dummy'. Vert, Goddess of Leanbox, said that she wanted to cheer her 'younger brother' on from the sidelines to support his fight. The others came because it was expected of them to be there, plus they wanted to know what would happen.

As everyone gathered together inside the Colosseum, eager to witness what many people were already calling the 'battle of the century', two figures stood outside the main entrance of the massive stadium, waiting for the now dubbed 'Champion of Black Sister'. It was IF and Compa, and both were nervous, especially the nurse-in-training. The Guild Agent of Planeptune looked over at her best friend and gave her a comforting smile. "Hey, it'll be okay, Compa. I know you're anxious about this whole event, heck, we all are," IF said, her arms crossed over her chest as she laned up against the violet coloured wall.

"I can't help it, Iffy, we haven't seen him for three days and now he's coming back, we're all anxious to see what will happen in the arena," Compa replied as she gave a nervous smile in IF's direction.

"Heh, the arena. I never fully agreed to the construction of this damn thing, and I still don't think it's a good idea," IF grumbled, her gaze falling to the ground as a grim expression appeared on her face. "The Colosseum is basically doing nothing more than making people more violent than they already are; if they want to do that then let them go to the Guild and earn some real money. At this rate there won't be many proper Guild members left around here, most of them would have signed up their contracts to the Colosseum to earn easy money there. Don't get me wrong, there's some nice features with the place that the Guild could learn from, plus it's another way for the CPUs to gain Shares. But there's just something wrong here, I can sense it."

"Have you talked to Nep-Nep about it?" Compa asked.

IF nodded before sighing. "Yeah, I did, but she didn't listen. As usual, of course. All she blabbered about was that the Colosseum sounded like a cool idea, plus it was just down the road from the Basilicom, ss if Histoire ever kicked her out again she could just walk down the road and do some stuff there. Tch, lazy as hell if you ask me. Still, Neptune has the best interests for the people, and I can't fault her for that. Just keep an eye out for anything suspicious, there's more to this than the Mars vs Ares fight."

Compa nodded, knowing that if IF said that something felt off then she was most likely right. Suddenly the two friends heard someone, or several people, cry out a name before the small crowd that was still trying to enter the Colosseum looked behind them and moved out of the way. IF stared ahead of her to see who they were making way for: it was Mars. The young man was walking straight ahead in IF and Compa's direction, paying no attention to the people that made way for him, although he did throw a few glances at the people around him, confused as to why they were acting like that. Once the scruffy, brown haired man had walked up to IF and Compa the Guild Agent thought that he was different, appearance wise anyway.

His brown hair, which was already scruffy and unkempt, was wilder than usual, almost spikey. Dark patches were visible under his piercing blue eyes, his expression was completely stoic. He was wearing a brand new black collared shirt with grey lining and the Lastation flag embroidered on both shoulders and over his left breast, a new set of blue jeans, a black belt, black combat boots, black fingerless gloves with steel rivets around the knuckles and the Lastation flag embroidered into the gloves, and finally a grey bandana was wrapped around his forehead and tied at the back with two flowing pieces behind his head. His sharpened axes were strapped to either side of his waist, his beretta pistols were holstered on both his legs and his battle-worn sniper rifle was strapped to his back. Mars had been busy over the last three days.

As he stood still in front of IF and Compa, trying his best to ignore the stares that drilled into his back, the Guild Agent chuckled and gave the young man a small smile. "Well, at least you're on time, I can give you that," the brunette said, causing Mars to raise an eyebrow in confusion. The emerald eyed, young woman gazed over towards the horde of onlookers and motioned for them to keep moving before returning her attention to Mars. "You've sure caused an upstir around here, Champion of Black Sister."

The young man tilted his head and appeared more than confused. "Eh? Champion of Black Sister? The bloody hell are you calling me that for?"

"That's what the people around Gamindustri are calling you," Compa replied with a bright smile, much to her nature. "You definitely look like you are a Lastationite champion with that getup. You also made Uni feel miserable for the last three days, not to mention Ge-Ge as well, I think even Vert was feeling a little lonely with her 'little brother' being around. You should apologise to them."

Mars sighed and stared sadly at the ground, making it obvious that he felt guilty about his actions. "I thought that would be the case. I'll apologise to them later, I have a duel to win."

IF nodded firmly as she stepped forward. "Alright then, let's get this party started. Compa, I'll catch up with you in the spectator stands with the CPUs, I'm going to show Mars where he'll be heading to. Try to keep the others from seeing him if you can."

Compa nodded before disappearing into the throng of people that clambered to get into the Colosseum, eager to witness the hyped up fight. IF and Mars strolled into the reception area side-by-side, making their way past the many groups of people that littered the place without trying to bump into anyone. "Jeez, there's so many people here, it's kinda hard to breathe in here," Mars grumbled with a snarky tone.

"Yeah, I know what you mean," IF responded. "Let's just hurry the pace and get you to the waiting area, the fight is going to take place soon."

After forcing their way through the crowd, which had only built up the further they went, Mars and IF finally reached their destination: one of the arena waiting rooms. The door to the Colosseum arena was closed shut, the mechanical arms that kept the door barred were tightly in place. The young man grunted as he sat down on the small bench and adjusted his weapons around. "Alright then, you better get back, or else the CPUs are going to come looking for us, even if Compa attempts to hold them back."

The Guild Agent chuckled as she waved the young man a 'goodbye', leaving the battle arena waiting room for Mars to use. The so-called 'Champion of Black Sister' was barely alone for ten minutes before he saw someone standing in the doorway, staring firmly at him. The young man looked over at the newcomer and was surprised to see that it was Nepgear, not Uni, who had gotten to him first. "Nepgear? The hell are you doing here?" Mars asked, who was honestly surprised to see her.

"W-Well, I just wanted to see you," Nepgear replied as she twiddled her fingers nervously, a light blush of red was on her cheeks. "C-Can I come in, please?"

Mars nodded. "Sure, you can com in. But why're you being so shy and nervous? Does it have something to with me disappearing for three days or something?"

The Planeptunian Candidate shrugged her shoulders as she fully entered the room and chose to stand near Mars. "I really don't know, it might be though." Then came an awkward silence between the two of them, it reminded Mars of the awkwardness that would envelope between him and Uni, but whether that concept was the same with the lilac haired goddess was another matter entirely. "So… um… h-how have you been?"

"I've been better, then again I've been a lot, lot worse," Mars sighed sadly as his faze fell away from Nepgear and aimed towards the stone floor. "Heh, don't worry about me, Nepgear, I'm fine, guess I'm a little anxious about how this whole fight is going to turn out."

"You'll be fine, I know you will do well, Mars," Nepgear told the scruffy haired as she sat down next to him, a nervous smile adorning her face as she gazed at him. "I believe in you, Mars, I always have. I know you can win."

Mars raised an eyebrow at the sudden and unexpected confidence boost that came from Nepgear, but it was not a bad thing. The young man extended his left hand out and began to gently pat the Planeptunian Candidate on the head, ruffling her hair ever so slightly in an affectionate way. Nepgear blushed brightly and glanced away from the young man with a highly embarrassed expression. "You don't like this?" Mars asked as he stopped patting the CPU Candidate.

"Um… I don't mind it, I… kinda actually like it," Nepgear replied, her cheeks bright red and a small smile spreading across her face as Mars continued to pat her head gently. She gripped her white, lilac and purple lined sailor dress tightly, her fingers were twitching nervously, her upper teeth bit into her lower lip. _He's just like a big brother, like I'm a little sister to Vert. Actually, this feels more than a brother-sister relationship, it's like… no, no, I don't think it's like that. Besides, I don't want to make Uni feel jealous if she knew what I was thinking. Still, this is embarrassing._

"Hmm? You alright there, Nepgear?" Mars asked as he stopped patting.

The Candidate nodded unsteadily, her face burning red with embarrassment. "Y-Yeah, I'm fine, Mars. A-Anyway, since you seem to be fine I should get going; don't want to keep you from getting ready for the fight." Nepgear, much to her own shock as well as Mars', hugged the young man for a few seconds, afterwards she stood up and walked towards the door, but before leaving the room the Candidate looked back and gave Mars one final, sweet smile. "Good luck, Mars."

Once Nepgear was gone Mars leaned back up against the wall, his thoughts mixed between Nepgear's odd behaviour and the upcoming duel that would take place at any moment. However, after a couple of minutes after Nepgear had left Mars saw someone else lingering around the doorway, wondering if they wanted to enter or not. The young man looked over to the door to see Uni herself standing in the doorway, nervous and anxious to see him again - Mars felt the same way, too. "Uni…" Mars muttered, unsure as to what to say to the Lastationite Candidate.

"Um, Mars…" Uni muttered in response, her gaze falling to the ground as her cheeks lit up bright red. "I… I just w-wanted to say hi before you went out there. C-Can I come in?"

Mars nodded. "Yeah, you can."

Uni entered the waiting room and sat down next to Mars, her hands fidgeted around while her gaze never fell upon the young man; Mars could tell that she was both nervous and a little angry. Finally the Candidate spoke. "Mars… why did you have to leave for three days without telling anyone? I-I was so worried about you. Um, I-I-I wasn't _th-that_ worried about you, n-not at all!"

"Yeah, yeah, I know," Mars mumbled in response. "Look, I just needed to have a few days by myself to train for this event, and… I think I made the right choice. I'm s-sorry for not telling you face-to-face, but I didn't want to be held back by force. I hope you understand." Just then the crowd outside began to cheer in a loud, booming voice. Mars stared at the small gate and sighed. "I'm probably going to be out there very soon, so we have to make this reunion quick."

Uni nodded, wishing she had gotten to Mars a lot earlier. "H-Hey, Mars, after you win this fight I… I-I have s-s-something I have to tell you."

"Same with me. I w-want to tell you something that's been buggering me for a while now, guess I'll just have to win to tell you it though," Mars responded, piquing Uni's interest. "Anyway, as much as I enjoyed being reunited with you I have a duel to win real soon."

It was then that the CPU Candidate remembered something. The raven haired goddess reached into her dress and pulled out a grey necklace with a small, shiny, crimson red and bright green jewel in the centre. Uni presented it to the young man nervously, her hands and arms shaking, her cheeks burning red. "Um… I f-found this yesterday when I was cleaning out my room. Y-Y-You c-can have it, i-if you want it th-that is; I-I-I don't really c-care if you want it or not."

Mars, much to Uni's surprise, chuckled in amusement before taking the necklace. "Thanks, Uni, I appreciate it. Where did it come from anyway?"

"This was long before I was born from the people's faith, but a couple of decades ago Lastation was the main hub of industry, weapon manufacturing and mining; it's all very different to what Lastation is like today," Uni began to explain, her nervousness starting to disappear as she told the story. "During one of the mining operations a miner came across this piece of ore stuck in the ground, it looked like there had been some sort of ancient mine around the area at one point, but all traces of it had disappeared. Anyway, this miner brings it home after finding out that it couldn't be shaped or anything, that was until her husband took a look at it. He called it 'Dragonite', a rare piece of ore that legend said that only the dragons of old could shape and hammer to their liking. So this woman's husband found a way to smooth it out and place it into the necklace, but a couple of years later he gave it to his daughter before disappearing."

"So who was the daughter?" Mars asked, his curiosity piqued.

"It was Kei. However, Kei doesn't care much for personal material, so she sold it to Noire for a large profit," Uni replied, sighing afterwards with a small smile. "I guess Noire gave it to me at some point in my early life, but I just forgot about it. Y-You can keep it, having a necklace with a so-called 'Dragonite ore' in it sounds kinda cool."

"Yeah, I guess so," Mars responded as he put the necklace on, admiring the stone as it shone brightly in crimson red and bright green; it reminded the young man of Uni's eyes, both human and HDD form, and he found it beautiful. He would not tell her that though, the Lastationite Candidate was susceptible to compliments, no matter how nice or true they were. "Thank you, Uni. I'll treasure it, I promise."

Uni blushed brightly as she smiled at the young man. "A-Alright then, th-thanks for liking it, Mars, I appreciate it." After a few seconds of silence the raven haired Candidate, whose face was burning red, suddenly wrapped her arms around the young man's body and brought herself up against him, tears were starting to form around the corners of her eyes. "P-Please win this fight, Mars, y-you're my… ch-ch-champion for a reason."

"I won't lose, Uni, I promise you that," Mars replied in a quiet voice as he returned the tight hug, resting his head atop of Uni's head; his sudden affection surprised the Candidate, just as she had surprised herself with her own affection towards him. "I'll win this for you, as your ch-champion."

"Mars… I… I…" Uni muttered as she withdrew back a bit before her face neared Mars', who also leaned forwards towards her, their lips puckered and neared each other, ready to lock together in a moment of passion and lust. Suddenly they were loudly interrupted by the crowd's excited roaring, which was soon followed by the announcer who welcomed everyone for attending. Mars and Uni drew away from each other swiftly and stared at one another, neither believing what they were just about to do. The CPU Candidate quickly got up and stuttered her words as she made for the exit. "Um… I-I-I b-b-better g-get going now, I-I'll see you l-later."

Uni quickly left the room and ran up the stairs towards the spectator seats, her face continuing to blush bright red as her thoughts turned towards what she and Mars were about to do. _W-W-Was I really going to k-k-k-k-kiss Mars?! I… I don't think I would have minded it…_ Uni thought as she made her way towards the other CPUs, the Oracles and IF and Compa. The Lastationite Candidate took her seat beside Noire and Nepgear just as the announcer began to call out Ares' name. Just then one of the gates opened and Ares the War God emerged, his body crackling with Anti-Energy, his eyes blood red and a wicked grin adorned his face.

Then it was Mars' turn to be called out. His gate opened and the young man stepped out, a determined expression was on his face. As Mars stopped walking and faced his half-brother, their eyes glaring into each others souls, Uni stood up and bellowed at Mars. "Mars! You better win this fight!" she shouted while giving him the thumbs up.

The scruffy haired man looked back at Uni and gave her the thumbs up in response. "I will."

"AAAAAAAAAND… BEGIN!" the announcer excitedly exclaimed as the sirens went off.

Within the blink of an eye, Mars and Ares rushed towards each other, both brandishing their glaive and axes. The two men slashed their weapons together in a fury of sparks, both moving here and there; their speed was much faster than anyone had first imagined, they were running around each other swiftly while slashing, hacking and blocking each other's attacks. Ares yelled loudly as he swung his glaive at his opponent, who blocked it and forced the War God back before launching towards him, an axe raised over his head and the other swinging from around his right waist. The axe in his left hand smashed against Ares' glaive while the right axe went over and collided into the War God's left shoulder, crushing the bones as blood poured out, splattering the axe, the War God's clothing and the ground.

The crowd gasped at the sudden bloodletting, especially when Mars leapt into the air after pulling out his axes before jumping into the air and kneeing the War God in the chest, sending him backwards across the ground and into the wall, blood stained the violet coloured surface. The announcer stuttered, unsure as if it was a rule to draw blood in such a way, but after gazing in the CPUs' direction and seeing how unfazed they were she decided to merely accept it for this match.

And so the battle continued. Ares leapt back onto his feet just in time to counter an attack from Mars, blocking his axes just before they collided with him. The War God forced the young man back before launching himself towards him, his glaive fully encased with Anti-Energy. Ares swiped his right arm around and the red energy crackled to life, the deadly energy launched from his hand and smashed into Mars like lightning, tearing the ground apart as it sent Mars across the field and into the wall, just where the War God wanted him to be. With an almighty war cry the bloodthirsty God of War struck forward just as Mars got to his feet and began to touch the ground in several places.

"You're mine now!" Ares roared as he leapt straight at Mars, the blade of his glaive aimed directly towards the young man's head.

As the crowd gasped, thinking that Mars' time was all over, the young man chuckled almost silently as he backed up from the area he was touching, just as Ares was about to come down upon him. As the War God neared Mars, ready to kill, the Champion of Black Sister raised the palm of his left hand towards his opponent as the ground around the War God lit up in a blood red colour. "Here goes nothing. **Hell's Surge!** " Mars shouted as four, blood red magic circles appeared on the ground as Ares reached the centre of them.

Suddenly, to everyone's amazement, Anti-Energy crackled out of the four magic runes and encased Ares in it, fizzling and crackling like electricity as it surged around and through the War God's body. It was almost terrifying for the audience to watch as Ares cried out in pain; the Anti-Energy infused with magic energy runes was causing the grey haired War God to cry out in abject pain, the magic energy of the runes was causing him to feel as if he was being tortured by Laran back in Project Ares, only the pain was tenfold. Ares' eyes shot wide open as he was electrified by the mixed energy, levitating in mid-air; his arms were twitching violently along with his legs.

As he writhed in agony Ares quickly realised where he had seen this attack before. _Enyo. This is one of Enyo's signature attacks when she's in her human form; she would use this attack to keep her foes paralysed before using another attack against them. Did she teach him that? So that explains where she was for the last three days. Let's hope she didn't teach him how to use this attack with others._

However, Mars was not yet done. As the magic runes disappeared and Ares fell to the ground he was soon to be disappointed, and overly enraged, with what happened next. The young man grabbed his sniper rifle and took aim at the War God, ready to strike. " **Blood Beam!** " Mars shouted as a red energy beam escaped his sniper rifle and collided into his half-brother's chest, sending the beam through the man's chest, tearing the fabric of his singlet shirt apart as blood splattered all over the place. Ares smashed to the ground and rolled over several times, groaning in pain as he breathed in and out heavily, his Anti-Energy beginning to rebuild his broken flesh and bones.

"Not dead yet? This should finish you off," Mars muttered as he took aim once more at the War God, ready to finish him off once and for all.

"Like… hell I am... going to let… you… WIN!" Ares bellowed as he shot his right hand forward and fired a heavily condensed bolt of Anti-Energy at his opponent.

The sudden attack was an unexpected one, and one that Mars was not fully expecting at all. The bolt of Anti-Energy collided with Mars' sniper rifle, causing shards of metals and wood to fly over the place as the Champion of Black Sister was forced back. He gazed at his sniper rifle, the rage within him started to rise as the young man saw how badly damaged it was. The sniper rifle that he had recovered from Project Mars, the same weapon that he had modified with all sort of mods and come to regard as a piece of him, was now destroyed beyond repair. With a cry of anguish and rage, Mars got back onto his feet, pulled out his beretta handguns and fired round after round at Ares, who clutched onto his glaive tightly as he ran straight for Mars while dodging the rain of bullets.

Once Ares reached Mars, the War God swung his blood red glaive at the Champion, who sidestepped it with no difficulty, but was swiftly subjected to a lethal blow of Anto-Energy bolts that surged forth from the grey haired War God. The Anti-Energy bolts collided with the young man, sending him crashing against the wall, his shirt torn up in separate places, blood flowed down from his wounds that were being regenerated. Ares was not yet done with his sudden act of aggression. With a savage war cry the young War God smashed the staff of the glaive across Mars' face before punching him in the gut; blood was coughed out as Mars fell backwards. The War God laughed wickedly as he pummelled his glaive into the young man and threw him across the arena field, tearing flesh, bones and clothing in the process.

"Come on, is that all you've got?" Ares asked in a taunting tone as he rushed towards Mars, raising his glaive over to his right side. The War God leapt at the young man and swiped his long weapon sideways across his opponent, the blade pierced through Mars' gut and up through his chest. As the Champion of Black Sister fell onto the ground once more, Ares grabbed him roughly by the throat and threw him into the air, he then ran towards his half-brother as the young man fell back to the ground. " **Relentless Retribution!** "

Ares' glaive glowed brightly as he struck forth, his mighty two-handed weapon pierced through Mars' chest and hurled him across the field once more. Then the War God struck forward and swiftly carved his blade all across the unfortunate young man in a swift set of bloody motions, never stopping as his glaive landed blow after blow, his opponent's bloody body all carved up and almost butchered, Anti-Energy flew through the air from both combatants. The final blow came when the grey haired War God smashed his glaive into Mars' back, sending him crashing to the ground. The crowd was stunned to silence, they had not seen such a display of destructive power before, not even the duel between Uni and Ares had been this destructive. Several areas of the circular wall and the ground were covered in small craters, cracks, missing pieces, blood and slash markings. It was total carnage.

Uni, who had been watching the whole duel playout before her like everyone else, was almost close to crying and had trouble keeping all of her emotions contained. She had a mouth covering her face as she watched Mars get horribly beaten up, hoping that the tears would not come rushing out like a tidal wave. Nepgear, noticing the twitching that was going on in Uni's hands and the swelling of tears around her eyes, looked over at her best friend and did her best to calm her down; after all, the Planeptunian Candidate herself was feeling the same way. "Hey, it'll be all right, Uni. Mars will be just fine," Nepgear said in her attempt to calm down the emotionally torn apart Candidate of Lastation.

"I-I can't help it, he's in pain and I… I… I just feel bad for him. I want to help him, but I'm stuck up here and I can't do anything about it!" Uni responded, her voice starting to worsen.

Nepgear sighed and gently rubbed Uni's left shoulder, causing the Lastationite Candidate to stare at her. "It'll be all fine, Uni. trust me, I know how you are feeling right about now, I'm worried for Mars' wellbeing as well. But all we can do is believe in him right now. You with me?"

Uni nodded, wiping away the tears that had started to fall down her face. "I-I am, Nepgear. I just hope he survives this and wins, I need to tell him something important."

"Hmm? Tell him something important? What do you mean?" Nepgear asked, although she already guessed - correctly - what it was. When it came to her, the Candidate of Planeptune did her best to not chuckle at Uni's expense, yet there was a voice in the back of her mind that was telling her that maybe it was not for the best to not have even asked about it.

Uni gazed away from her best friend and twiddled her fingers together, appearing embarrassed about the whole thing. "W-W-Well… I… don't want to talk about it right now, Nepgear." Nepgear nodded in an understanding way before she returned her gaze towards the fight. At any rate, both CPU Candidates were too focused on the duel at hand to worry about their own problems.

Mars had gotten back onto his feet, only to get smashed across the face by Ares' glaive, sending the young man back down to the ground once more. With an audible and frustrated groan, the War God grabbed Mars by his neck and held him up to face him. "Is that all you got, brother?" Ares asked in a condescending tone. "I'll admit that you put up a good fight beforehand, but you're starting to get boring. Show me real strength. Show me real power. Do it. Now." The grey haired War God threw the young man across the arena field.

Mars rolled across the ground and collided with the wall, leaving blood and torn clothing fabric behind. The scruffy haired man grunted as he got back onto his feet, his muscles twitching from all the pain he was going through, his Anti-Energy filled eyes burned with abject rage as he looked back at Ares while he grabbed his handguns. "You… I'm gonna make you pay. **Heavens Barrage!** "

Mars' handguns lit up brightly as he fired his new, special attack at his opponent. The beams were a mix of blood red and black colours, multiple rounds of high energy beams shot forward and collided directly with Ares. The special attack lasted for half a minute, and once it was over all people could hear and see were the pained groans that came from Ares and the small fissures that dotted the arena; dust and crumbled pieces of rock were everywhere. Mars looked around the area to see through the dust, yet his eyesight could see nothing. The young man sniffed the air, his sense of smell enhanced by the three day training regime he went through with Enyo. Mars could pick out various different types of smell, he could pick out where different people were, who they were, and what race they were. The Champion of Black Sister could smell out where each of the CPUs were, their Oracles, where Enyo was and even several others as well. Only there was something weird going on: Mars could smell that something was 'off' with Kei, plus there were a few other scents that he was unfamiliar with.

Suddenly there was movement from within the cloud of dust: Ares was on the move, and he was coming straight for the young man. The savage War God came bursting out of the dust cloud and launched several punches in Mars' direction, who did his best to defend himself from them while firing round after round at his opponent. Eventually Ares gained the upper hand and smashed his right fist into Mars' face, sending him back a bit. With an enraged look in his eyes, the grey haired War God began to channel his Anti-Energy throughout his body, he was getting ready to strike a deadly blow.

" **Raging Explosion!** " Ares shouted as the Anti-Energy that was building up around him exploded in a furious display, sending the crackling, deadly, blood red energy all over the place as it exploded. The ground around the War God was torn asunder as Mars was hit directly by the energy, sending him crashing deep into the wall; his arms were sticking out of the wall as were his legs, audible groans of pain came from the young man. Ares, grinning with delight, reached into the hole in the wall and forcefully grabbed Mars, pulling him out and smashing him into another part of the circular wall. "Heh, you had enough yet, Subject 13?"

Mars glared viciously at his half-brother and growl in an inhuman manner, not taking it kindly to being called 'Subject 13' once more. The crowd, meanwhile, were utterly confused with what was going on, especially the CPUs, who had no idea why Ares was calling Mars 'Subject 13'. Uni could no longer hold back her tears, she began to cry silently while gripping her dress tightly, unable to handle seeing Mars in so much pain. _Get up. Get up and fight. Please, Mars, get back up and fight._

"Had enough yet? Jeez, you try too much, just give up and I might spare you from a agonising and brutal death. Maybe," Ares said as he tightened his grip on Mars' throat, enjoying the pain that he was inflicting upon his older half-brother.

That was when something unexpected happened, something that no one expected to see or hear at all. Mars began to laugh. The young, scruffy haired man was laughing at Ares, finding something funny; it was something that that everyone else could not see or understand. Mars looked straight into Ares' eyes as his laugh began to calm down. "Heh, find brinning pain and misery towards others joyful? If that's true then I pity you," Mars said with a pitiful tone.

"You what? Fuck you! At least I have a reason to fight! I fight to prove how strong I am compared to others, I fight improve my strength, I fight because I must!" Ares exclaimed, his grip only becoming tighter. "You couldn't even compare to that at all. You don't even have a reason to fight."

"That's where you're wrong, Ares. I do have a reason to fight," Mars responded weakly, yet there was a prideful grin that no one expected to see adorning his face. The Lastation Pride had affected him, not to mention that his reason for fighting was beyond what people expected. "I fight for Uni, CPU Candidate of Lastation, so I can make her proud and repay the debt that I owe her. To fight for someone rather than for your own ambitions, isn't that a far better thing?"

"Not if you're dead," Ares said as he used his Anti-Energy to forcefully throw the young man across the arena and into another part of the circular wall, grinning as he did so. As Mars flew across the field people in the crowd swore that they saw the scruffy haired man's dragon mark on his upper left arm start to glow in a fiery red blaze, and that a toothy grin appeared in his expression. After Mars crashed into the wall, leaving dust and stone particles flying all over the place, Ares chuckled and approached the young man. "Well then, let's get this over with-"

The grey haired War God never got to finish what he was about to say as he approached Mars. As Ares neared his opponent he heard Mars exclaim " **Fire Roar!** ", then a great burst of fire came rushing forward from where the Champion of Black Sister was, smashing into Ares and sending him flying across the arena into another part of the wall; smoke flowed from his body.

Soon afterwards the awed crowd, CPUs, Oracles and Enyo watched as Mars emerged from the hole in the wall, only to be stunned at what they saw - except for Enyo of course. It was Mars that they saw, but he look much, much different. His black collared shirt was almost completely torn apart, his pants had several tears in them, his headband was hanging loosely around his head, his eyes were blood red with Anti-Energy as well as the glow around his body. But what was most disturbing of all was fiery red scales that were growing around the left side of his body. Mars now had fang-like teeth; his left eye was blood red with a blood orange centre, black eye veins and a black, thin pupil right in the centre; red scales covered the left hand side of his body; the fingers and nails looked like claws; a long, red scaled tail was sticking out of the end of his lower spine and curled around the back; a pissed off expression adorned his face; the dragon mark on his upper left arm was shining with a fiery red.

"What… what _is_ he?" Uni asked to no one in particular, too shocked to even be grieved for his injuries.

Before anyone could respond to Uni's question a dragon-like roar was heard coming from where Ares was, then to everyone's awe and shock they watched as the War God emerged from out of the wall, but he too was covered in red scales, but it was not just on his left side, it was all over his body; his eyes were just like Mars' left eye, so too were the claws on each finger, the long scaled tail as well as his fang-like teeth. Ares and Mars glared at each other, their new eyes filled with rage, then they roared at one another, sending particles flying everywhere and making the spectators cover their ears. Soon afterwards they pounced at one another; no weapons, only fists, teeth, claws and tails.

 _I should have known, I should have realised what Mars happened to be a long time ago._ Histoire thought as she and the others watched as Mars land a savage punch against Ares' red scaled face with an Anti-Energy infused left fist, sending him backwards. _The Dov Clan still exists. The dragons of old still live!_

Enyo watched sternly at the duel below, silently hoping that neither of the combatants kill one another. The fight was becoming more intense and bloody than before now that the two half-brothers were using their humanoid dragon form - Dragon Force. Both were neither giving up nor were they holding anything back. Yet the raven shapeshifter of Project Ares was highly concerned about how Mars was going against Ares. _Well, Mars and Ares - Vedrahkaal and Sosruth - are making this pretty enthralling to watch, yet I can't help but worry about them, especially since Vedrahkaal can only use half of his humanoid dragon mode. It's going to be tough for him, but he has to beat his younger half-brother, he just has to._

Not long afterwards Enyo heard someone mumble something, or rather someone's name, nearby where she was standing. The last member of the Raven Clan looked over to her right and saw a woman with long, brown hair, a lilac coloured, collared shirt, dark grey jeans, dark blue eyes and a worried expression upon her face. "Vedrahkaal," she muttered quietly to herself.

 _Hold up, how the hell does she know who Vedrahkaal is?_ Enyo asked herself as she stared at the strange woman, who was now gripping her shirt tightly out of anxiety. Then it came to the shapeshifter. _Hmm, is she… yeah, I think I just might know who she is._ As soon as she looked away from the strange woman, Enyo spied around the arena with her raven eye ability to see who was around, and what she saw almost astonished her. There were a few people on the other side of the arena with wolf marks on their upper arms, there were a few others with giant eagles, there were also a couple of other people with different markings on their arms. They were all members of a Great Clan, although one did seem a little off due to Enyo not recognising it. She had heard of the Lesser Clans, those who were practically subspecies to the greater creatures that made up the Great Clans, so Enyo guessed that one of the Lesser Clans had come to watch the fight as well.

Further away was Laran, grandson of Maximilian of Project Ares, who was watching the whole duel play below him. The sadistic War God kept a cool demeanor as he watched Ares pummel Mars in the face and gut with several punches before smashing him with his tail, laughing wildly as he did so. Laran merely watched and shook his head. _So, you believe that just by being a part of the great Dragon Clan you can flaunt it for all people to see? Pathetic. I honestly don't care if Ares gets himself killed, it wouldn't matter to me in the end, the CPUs will die this day. Still, why isn't Subject 13 using a complete Dragon Force? Hmm, maybe he's only a half-dragon, that would explain it all._

Meanwhile, Ares kicked Mars across the field after slashing him across the face with his dragon claws. "Is that all you got?" the War God taunted his half-brother mockingly.

"Far from it," Mars muttered as he crashed into wall, only to burst from the rubble and fly into the air. Two, large red and white wings with clawed ends erupted from the young man's upper back, gliding him through the air as he circled around the grey haired War God. Soon afterwards, Mars flew down towards Ares swiftly and attacked him ferociously. " **Fire Claws!** "

Mars struck at Ares viciously again and again, his left hand imbued with fire, his claws sharp. The attack forced Ares into the ground, sending dust and pieces of rock flying, then came another great shock to the crowd, though by now some of them had been expecting it. Are flew into the air, the same coloured and shaped wings that Mars had were also appearing out of the War God's upper back. As the two dragons glared at each other, their vicious stares locked onto each other, fire began to erupt around their bodies, slowly engulfing them in the fiery substance. Only that was not all, for Ares was also channeling not only Dragon Fire but Anti-Energy as well. He grinned at Mars while flexing his scaled hands. "You ready yet, brother?" he demanded with a toothy grin.

Mars nodded as a wild look appeared in his eyes; streams of fire escaped his mouth. "Hell yeah, now I've got a fire in my belly! Let's dance!"

Ares, for some reason or another, seemed to be more than annoyed. "Oi! Don't you start stealing lines from other franchises!" The grey haired War God hated it when people broke the fourth wall, in fact it was why he hated Planeptune.

"I don't care," Mars responded before he launched himself towards Ares, colliding his fiery head with the War God's chest, causing the grey haired man to arch backwards in pain. Swiftly afterwards the scruffy, brown haired man somersaulted around as his left foot lit up brightly with Anti-Energy and Dragon Fire, bringing it down against Ares' head. " **Fire Talon!** "

As Ares crashed into the ground Mars swiftly followed up his attack with another roar. " **Fire Roar!** " the young man shouted as Dragon Fire blasted out of his mouth, smashing into the War God and burned his clothing.

"You asshole," Ares muttered viciously as he regained his composure. He looked up at his half-brother, arched backwards, and launched his face forward as fire escaped his throat. " **Fire Roar!** " Mars dodged the attack by swerving away, only to get hit full force by a heavy blast of Anti-Energy encased with Dragon Fire.

The young fell to the ground and landed on all fours, his wings managing to glide him to safety. Once Mars stood up straight and floated off the ground he watched as Ares floated ahead of him, his arms were crossed over his chest and a highly annoyed look was upon his face. "I'm getting fed up with all this, you're putting up too much of a fight," the War God complained.

"That makes two of us," Mars responded, his gaze stern. "Let's end this!"

The two Dragons surged their backs backwards as they began to channel their energy into a final decisive strike, both ready to unleash all they got into it. Fire escaped their mouths as their cheeks puffed up, filled with Dragon Fire. Then, in a swift motion, they lurched forward, huge jets of fire burst from their throats and collided together in a fiery explosion. " **Great Fire Roar!** " the two Dragons shouted as they unleashed their greatest and deadliest roar attack.

The two Great Fire Roar attacks smashed into each other in a fiery explosion, resulting in a great boom as the Dragon Fire rushed all over the place, scorching the entire Colosseum arena as the spectators ducked underneath their chairs, narrowly escaping a fiery death. The burst of Dragon Fire exploded out through the open ceiling and into the air in a great, fiery beam, piercing the heavens as dark clouds rumbled around the Colosseum, lightning striking through the dark clouds and thunder rang in the ears of the spectators. Eventually the fire subsided, leaving only smoke and charred walls; no one was dead. As the spectators - both CPUs, Oracles and humans alike - peeked their heads over the safety of their seats to see what was going on below, the two Dragon Clansmen were floating around in the smoke, both barely able to see what was going on.

"Tch, the hell am I going to do about this?" Ares muttered to himself, his gaze falling all over the place, leaving him to rely on his sense of smell and hearing. Unfortunately for the War God of Project Ares he was not as attuned with his Humanoid Dragon Form as Mars was with his, the young, grey haired man preferred to be in his human form anyway, that way he was more attuned with the Anti-Energy that flowed through his body.

Suddenly there was as bright, fiery light coming from below him, but as Ares looked downwards to see what it was he heard his half-brother shouting. " **Flaming Lotus!** "

The smoke blew away as Mars struck upwards, his body bright with Dragon Fire and Anti-Energy; his hands and feet were the most heavily condensed with the two energy types. The young man struck upwards and the Dragon Fire erupted into a cyclone while he smashed his fists and feet simultaneously, causing the War God to cry out in pain, his wings becoming scorched and torn up. As Ares began to fall back to the ground he was struck in the back by a savage headbut from Mars, who was flying upwards whilst covered in Dragon Fire and Anti-Energy. As they surged ever onwards towards the sky many people in the crowd thought that it looked like a flaming spear that surged upwards towards the heavens, hence they silently dubbed the attack 'Flaming Spear'.

Mars roared loudly as he surged ever upwards, ignoring the sound of Ares' spine breaking in several places as the scruffy, brown haired man flew out of the arena and into the darkening sky. He then kicked his younger half-brother upwards before flying up to face him one last time. Red dragon scales began to form across his right hand and arm as Dragon Fire and Anti-Energy fully encased his clenched right fist. "I know there's a softer side to you, Ares. Deep in your heart there's a light that's trying to break out, trying to free itself from the corrupting influence of all that Anti-Energy, from that Anti-Crystal inside you," Mars said sternly as he grabbed the War God by what was left of his singlet shirt. "I know you can free yourself from it, just like I did. Don't shun the outside world, because it will help you, like it helped me."

Mars drew his right fist back for a short moment before bringing it forward and savagely punching Ares in the face, once more ignoring the breaking of bones as he shattered Ares' skull; Mars knew that the Anti-Energy would repair it anyway. "If I can do it then you can as well. Free yourself!" Mars shouted as he flew downwards, leaving a fiery trail behind him in the process.

To the people in the crowd it looked as if a large bolt of fire was heading straight towards them, ready to destroy the Colosseum and burn everyone in its path. Fortunately that was not what happened. The large firebolt crashed into the ground, leaving the largest crater they had seen in the process, yet at the centre there were two people: Mars and Ares. Ares was lying on his back, finally knocked out from the attack; the red scales around him were slowly starting to disappear. Enyo, standing in the spectator stand high above, jumped down as black feather appeared from all over her body, easing her assent to the crater where Ares was lying in. She took a hold of him as the feathers all over her disappeared, a stern nod was directed in Mars' direction.

"Thank you, Vedrakhaal," Enyo muttered to her old childhood friend as she began to make her escape from the arena, eager to get away from the vengeful wrath of Laran and Project Ares, and hoping that she and the grey haired War God could start a new life together in a place far, far away from everything around them. Their life in Project Ares was now over, yet their struggle to survive in the world around them had just begun.

Laran watched as Enyo made her escape with the unconscious Ares in her arms, it made the sadistic War God mad with rage. With clenched teeth and blood red eyes flaring, Laran made his way past and through the crowd as they evacuated the Colosseum. The sadist was making his way to one of the backrooms where the power was housed, there Laran had set up a last surprise for the CPUs, the Oracles and the people of Planeptune. The sadistic man threw the door open and stormed across the room until he reached the electrical switches, he began to fiddle around with a couple of wires and a red button connected to a panel that was thrown open to reveal C4s and other explosives. The whole Colosseum was rigged with explosives. Laran grinned malevolently as he readied himself for what may be his final moment alive, yet he did not truly care if he lived through the destruction that was to come.

"Time to die, Goddesses. Gamindustri will belong to us War Gods soon after," Laran muttered as he firmly pressed the red button. Yet nothing happened. After pressing it several more times, without any sort of success, the sadistic man ripped open a wall panel to check the wires, only to see that they had been torn apart, even the explosives within the wall appeared to be missing. Laran growled viciously as his teeth became more jagged and brown scales began to form around his face, his inner beast beginning to come forth. "Enyo. ENYO! I'll kill you for this, you traitorous hag!"

As Laran yelled to himself, enraged that his plot to slay the Goddesses had failed, Mars stood on the broken, violet ground of the Colosseum arena, his gaze falling upon the crowd as they made their way out of the area. Just then the young man felt a presence behind him as a voice spoke out to him. "Mars?" the voice asked.

The scruffy haired man knew the voice well: it belonged to Uni, more specifically Black Sister. The CPU Candidate of Lastation had flown down to the ground to see him. A sense of uncertainty was in the air, no doubt Black Sister was afraid with how Mars appeared. Slowly Mars turned around until he was facing the woman he loved, the Anti-Energy and the Dragon Fire that surrounded him was gone, leaving only normal flesh and red dragon scales, yet his left eye did not return to normal. "Uni… what do I look like to you?" the young man asked, uncertain as to whether he wanted to know.

"What… what kind of monster are you?" Black Sister asked in response, too afraid to even greet him. It was a question that she instantly regretted. The silver haired Candidate watched as Mars stared at her in disbelief, then a grim and sad expression took over his face before he flew into the air and made his way out of the arena. What made Black Sister hate herself afterwards was what she saw Mars do: cry. She made him cry silently, his tears falling to the ground as he flew away.

"Wh-What! Mars! I-I'm sorry, I really am! Please hold up!" the CPU Candidate cried out, yet to no avail. Before Black Sister could take off after him she was stopped by Kei, who had managed to get down into the arena while some of the other CPUs and Oracles were directing the crowd out of the Colosseum. The silver haired Oracle placed a hand on Black Sister's left shoulder and shook her head, causing the Candidate to only break out in tears. It seemed that Black Sister had just ruined the future she wanted with Mars, and vice versa. Despite it being a proud day for Lastation it was also a sad and grim day for Black Sister, and for Mars as he flew away into the wilderness to mend his heart.

* * *

 **A/N: Sorry for the longer than usual update for this long, long chapter, I've had a bit of Writer's Block with the large fight scene, plus I lost my connection to the internet so I have to go to university to write all this up, unfortunately I don't go ti university often now, so updating the story has been mildly slow. Anyway, I rather enjoyed this chapter, especially with Mars' and Ares' background being mildly revealed; I don't think I'm quite done with their backstories yet. Will Uni manage to apologise to Mars and make him feel better? Will Mars ever return to Lastation after being called a monster by the woman he loves? Why does Kei smell strange? Will Enyo and Ares manage to get away from a wrathful Laran? Find out next time!**

 **Notice the Skyrim and Fairy Tail references in this chapter? Hope you did, I've been wanting to add them for a while now. The next chapter is in the middle of a great debate in my mind at the moment, I've got two scenarios playing out yet I can't decide on them, although one of them is going to be my favourite chapter yet, so I might write that one up first. Maybe. Anyway, leave a review if you have suggestions or just want to say something, and I'll catch up with you all when I can.**


	26. Finding a Dragon

**Chapter 25: Finding a Dragon**

The duel between Mars and Ares in the Colosseum of Planeptune had occurred several weeks ago, and there had been no sign of either of them, though the disappearance of Ares and his companion Enyo was of little to no concern for the populace of Gamindustri, at least most of them anyway. What interested everyone, from the poorest citizen to the Goddesses, was the disappearance of Mars, the 'Champion of Black Sister', and no one was more deeply involved with it than Uni, CPU Candidate of Lastation. It was no secret to the people of Gamindustri that Mars meant something of great importance to the raven haired CPU Candidate, if they fully comprehended the matter, however, was unknown.

At any rate, it was clear that after Mars disappeared, to which the general public still did not understand why, Uni was seen less and less to the point where people began to become worried for her health. The Lastationite Candidate always appeared sad and grief stricken, especially whenever she was alone where no one could see her, there the raven haired goddess would often cry and blame herself for Mars' disappearance, believing that she made him hate her. Sometimes Uni would walk out onto the balcony in the middle of the night and watch the stars for hours on end, just as Mars had done. It was painful for Noire, her older sister and senior Goddess of Black Regality, and Kei, Oracle of Lastation, to witness. Something had to be done to get Uni out of her depressing state. Mars had to be found, no matter what.

At least that was the plan, but executing it would undoubtedly be more difficult than how it actually sounded, especially since there had been no sightings of the young man ever since he departed from the Planeptune Colosseum. This was what was going on through Kei Jinguji's head as she signed away at the various amount of paperwork that littered her desk. It was rare to see Kei's desk completely littered with documents, folders, requests, business contracts and whatnot, considering that Noire preferred to take care of it herself, not to mention that the silver haired Oracle had been spending less and less time in the Basilicom due to her business company dream - which, incidentally, was not going completely well for her.

"Hmm… but where to start looking?" Kei asked herself as she hunched forward, writing her name swiftly on various pieces of paper that stared back up at her from the desk. It was indeed a tough question to answer, considering that there had been no sign of Mars for the past few weeks. The closest Kei had gotten to a sighting was when a member of the Planeptune Guild informed her superiors that someone with dragon wings had been flying over the southern mountain range, although it was debatable.

At any rate, sightings or not it was definitely going to be a tough job in finding the young man. After a few more hours of mumbling to herself over various strategies on finding Mars, as well as signing more and more paperwork without a single break, Kei grunted as she stood up, stretching her back out with a heavy sigh of relief. "Well, I better hand all of these over to Lady Noire for final processing and signing, she needs to deal with some of these anyway," Kei muttered to herself as she grabbed one of the paper-filled, dark grey trays on her desk and walked out of her office.

It did not take long for Kei to reach Noire's office, but what she saw inside startled her ever so slightly: Noire was not in the office, plus there were small piles of paperwork that dated back over the last few weeks that were left unsigned on her desk. The silverette raised an eyebrow at the untidiness that flowed from Noire's desk, littering the floor as well. Kei sighed and shook her head at the mess before her as she walked up to the desk and placed the overfilled tray down on the only clear spot that could be found. It look like Noire had not been in her office for a while, a day or two at best, maybe even longer than that. It surprised the silver haired Oracle at first, but after thinking it over for a few minutes she sighed, but instead out of displeasure it was out of relief.

 _Heh, I guess deep down Lady Noire really is a softy is she has chosen her sister over her reputation as a hard worker. It's actually rather endearing._ Kei thought as she began to tidy up the office, setting the various amount of paperwork into separate trays so she could sign them later in her free time. After managing, with great effort, to tidy up at least most of the desk into a much more neater state the silver haired Oracle stared out towards the large, glass doors that led out towards the largest of the balconies that adorned the Lastation Basilicom, she noticed how late it was getting. _Hmm, almost nearing one-thirty or almost two in the afternoon, I might see if there's anyone around to make some afternoon tea, either that or I'll have to see if Lady Noire wants to try cooking something up again. Without accidentally burning the food this time would be preferable. Actually, where would she and Lady Uni be? In either one of their rooms? Most likely. Better go and check, just in case._

Kei left Noire's office and trudged down the hallways that led up to the resident section of the Basilicom, noticing how quiet it was compared to some days. Eventually the silver haired Oracle approached Mars' room, but something was off about it: the door was jarred open and the light was on. With a curious look Kei decided to poke her head in to see who was rummaging through the missing man's room, although when the blue eyed woman peered into the room she was surprised to see Uni standing in the middle of the room with her back to the door and an open drawer in front of her. The raven haired Candidate knelt down onto one knee as she searched through the lowest drawer of the small tabletop dresser, she was searching for something that the Oracle could not see. It appeared that not even Uni knew what she was looking for, however, she was also mumbling to herself as she rummaged through the drawer.

"What the hell has Mars got in this drawer? Just rubbish? Sure looks like it," the crimson eyed Candidate mumbled to herself as she searched through the lower drawer, both amazed and slightly concerned at the amount of junk that occupied the drawer. - it almost seemed as if Mars had deliberately placed it all there to protect something. "Hmm, there's definitely something under all this mess. Maybe something that can point me in his direction? I hope so."

The CPU Candidate continued to rummage through the lower drawer as she pulled out sheets of paper, small bags, and even a small ammo container, before she reached the bottom. It was then that Uni stopped searching for clues to Mars' whereabouts and simply stared at what she had found. "What's this? A journal or something?" Uni asked herself as she stared at the small, red leather-bound book in her right hand. The cover was worn with age, the pages looked as if they had suffered from mild burns and a few pages were stuck together due to what could be blood. It looked as if the Lastationite Candidate was hesitant to even open it to see what was written on the pages.

Kei watched as Uni continued to stare at the red leather journal, her body shaking in anticipation and uncertainty, it seemed as if the CPU Candidate was still uncertain if she wanted to read it or not. Eventually, after several minutes of mental debating, Uni sighed and opened the journal as she sat down on his bed. Soon afterwards, however, the CPU Candidate regretted reading it as her emotions started to get out of control. What she read was just too sad for her, and all it left was unanswered questions as to what Mars was referring to.

 _Entry One:_

 _I don't know what year it is, I don't know what month it is, I don't know what day it is, or hour, or minute, or anything for that matter. All I can feel is pain. Pain. So much pain. Guilt for not being able to save the others. Physical pain from all of the torture that I was put through. How long has it been since I escaped the destruction of Project Mars? A few days? A week? A month? Time makes no sense to me anymore, and I doubt it ever will again._

 _I remember the first time I saw the light of day; it was wonderful. Same with the rise of the moon and the darkening of the sky, even the stars that shone brightly. A star. I want to be a star in the night sky, never having to worry about anything, never having to live with all of the shit that I went through. Heh, that would be impossible though - logic and all that crap. Still, would be nice to not worry about anything, especially with all the nightmares that I've been having. Memories. Nightmares about the memories. The torture, the screams, the dark cell, the violent abuse of the guards, all the blood and agony. I can't stand them. They make cry, they make me tremble, they make my scars twitch and itch with pain, they make me stay up all night. I can't stand it anymore! At this rate I'm gonna go mad!_

 _At least I found this journal to write down whatever I'm thinking; heck, I'm surprised that I can even write or read for that matter, considering that my memory is more than shit. I'm going to go adventure across Gamindustri for now, there's a mission that I have to do: kill all remaining members of Project Mars. Justice needs to be delivered to those bastards, and I aim to do it. I don't care if I have to live with the sins of murdering those assholes, at least the voices of all those who were killed in the Project will be silenced. I need to do this. I have to. I must. I can't be near people, I can't be with anyone, I must never care what I once was, I must push aside all feelings that the Project never got rid off so I can kill the survivors. This is what I need to do._

After Uni had finished reading the first entry she quickly closed the journal and laid it down next to her, words could hardly describe what she was feeling at that moment. There were many question buzzing through her mind, yet there were no answers to be found, at least for now anyway. Eventually Uni sighed deeply and held her hands over her face, she did not know whether to cry or not. Mars' past, the nightmares that plagued him, the scars on his upper body, the reason why he was hostile towards people, everything about him, it all made sense to her now. "Why? Why didn't you tell me this, Mars?" Uni muttered sadly. "I could have help you, I could have done something."

Kei stared sadly at Uni, the silver haired Oracle felt helpless as she watched the CPU Candidate mumble to herself. Suddenly the workaholic heard the sounds of footsteps of someone approaching her, she looked over down the hallway to see Noire walking towards her with a small tray in her hands, a plate covered in biscuits and two cups of tea were on the black food tray. The two women locked eyes with each other for a short moment before they looked back at Uni, who was now staring sadly at the floor. The silver haired Oracle looked back at Noire and motioned for her to enter the room.

"Well go on then, Lady Uni is waiting for someone to comfort her," Kei informed the raven haired CPU with a whispering tone, giving her a small smile.

"R-Right, okay then. I'm not sure what I can really do to snap Uni back into reality," Noire replied with a similar hushed tone. "I honestly don't know what to do. I doubt these biscuits and tea will do any good."

"Maybe not, but you are trying your best. Just talk to Lady Uni and get her to tell you what's really bothering her - there is a lot more going on in her head than you realise." The Oracle of Lastation motioned with her head for Noire to go into the room to talk to Uni once more, receiving an exasperated sigh, but she quickly complied and entered the room with the tray still in her hands.

Once the Lastationite Goddess had stepped into the room and walked up to her younger sister, who looked up at her with a sad expression upon her face. "Oh, Noire, I thought you left to start signing all the paperwork that was in your office," Uni said before she laid eyes on the tray of food and tea. "Is that… for me? I-I'm sorry, but I'm not feeling hungry or thirsty right now."

"You have to start eating something eventually, you've been saying that you aren't hungry for the last day or two," Noire sighed as she placed the tray down on the small dresser. Once done the raven haired CPU looked back to the bed and noticed the red, leather-bound journal that Uni had found earlier. "Hey, what's that? Can I read it?"

The CPU Candidate swiftly looked at the journal and shook her head before grabbing hold of it. "N-No, it's f-for the best that you don't. I-I'm sorry, Noire, I really am."

The senior goddess sat down close next to Uni and gazed at her, sighing once more. "Uni, please just tell me what's going on inside that head of yours. I want to help, but you aren't given me any specific details about what is going on."

However, it only made the CPU Candidate shake her head as she held back her emotions. "No, I can't tell you, I just can't. You wouldn't understand."

Noire raised an eyebrow, wondering what her younger sister was trying to keep from her. Eventually, after much thinking as to what course to take in order to make the saddened goddess more open about her thoughts, Noire decided to touch upon a matter that she remembered Mars bringing up during the first day they cosplayed together. It was a topic that made Noire question the very relationship she had with her sister, if they even had one that is - the topic that Mars raised with the raven haired goddess but into question everything that she practically believed in to aspire achievement and success. The prideful CPU took a deep breath before she decided to speak her mind.

"Uni, listen, I know that you have done your best to live up to my expectations of what a CPU of Gamindustri should be, to be better than me in all aspects of what makes a CPU great, to get out of my shadow. I know that my expectations are high, extremely high, and you've done a magnificent job at reaching them, even if some haven't been met," Noire began to explain; her voice was almost quiet, her gaze was upon the floor, her hands were gripping her elegant dress tightly. "Wh-What I'm trying to say is, I-I'm proud of you, Uni, I always have been. I know that I've been harsh, stubben and even a complete idiot with how I tried to make you exceed me in every way, but there's no need for that now. In some ways, you already have left my shadow. You are your own person, don't let what other people think of you as well as their expectation weigh you down."

"Noire... " Uni muttered as she stared at her older sister, amazed with the fact that she was proud of her. The CPU Candidate had never heard Noire say that to her before, it almost sounded too good to be true. But it was true, the small yet prideful smile on the senior CPU's face said it all.

Noire chuckled as she lifted her legs up until her knees were resting under her chin and her arms were wrapped around the legs; whether at Uni or to herself was unknown, it could have been either, or both. What she said next surprised the Candidate. "You know, even though I don't look like it nor do I act like it, I'm k-kind of... envious towards you, i-in a way. You're able to make friends a lot more easier than I ever could; heck, I doubt I could even… W-W-Well, anyway, ignoring wh-what I was going to say, I want you to see me not as merely someone to imitate, but as an actual sister. So please, Uni, just tell me what's making you act like this. When you're depressed it affects more than just you alone, it affects us all."

Uni choked on her own words as tears began to flow down her face, eventually she swiftly lunged towards Noire and wrapped her arms around her, resting her head underneath the senior CPU's breasts. Noire was surprised at first, but after stuttering for a short moment to herself she eventually wrapped her arms around the CPU Candidate to comfort her, doing her best to ignore Uni's wet tears that were soaking into the dress. The raven haired Candidate then spoke her mind. "It's… it's all my fault that Mars disappeared. I called him a monster, I made him hate me. It's all my fault! I should've just accepted him instead of driving him away! I hate myself for that, because… because… I… I love him."

"What?! You're in love with Mars?!" Noire exclaimed loudly, shocked that her younger sister even felt that way towards the young man. However, her sudden outburst shook Uni as she leaned back away from Noire, believing that she disapproved of her love towards Mars. It was something that Noire recognised, and she quickly did her best to get rid of that fear. "I-I-I'm not say that I disapprove or anything, I was just a bit shocked was all.

"So… you're okay with it?" the highly nervous Candidate asked. When Noire nodded Uni could not help but beam a small yet satisfied smile, although the Lastationite Candidate did notice that there was a small hint of sadness and regret in Noire's expression, but she decided to not ask her about it, guessing that it was something personal.

At any rate, Noire seemed to be fine with the concept of her younger sister being in love, with a dragon no less. Still, it made the senior CPU feel something tingle inside her heart, making her mind race as she stood up and made way for the door; it was something that the raven haired goddess had not felt before, yet it was too difficult for her to properly describe in her thoughts. Before Noire left Mars' room she turned back and looked at her younger sister. "Uni, there's no need to mope around in Mars' room, just leave it be for now. Mars would never hate you, so he will come back some day."

Uni sighed as she got off the missing man's bed, grabbed the tray and leave the room. "All right then, Noire. I hope you're right."

"Since when have I ever been wrong?" the senior CPU retorted pridefully with a smirk. Once the CPU Candidate had left the room, passing by Kei without a single word, Noire returned to the hallway and sighed in a defeated tone. "How the hell am I supposed to get Uni out of her depression? It seems impossible at this rate."

Kei shrugged. "I don't know about you, but that talk you had with Lady Uni seems to have helped her out a bit. You said that you were proud of her for becoming someone that isn't in your shadow any more, I believe that made her day."

"You think?" Norie asked, to which the silver haired Oracle nodded firmly with a small smile. "Still, getting Uni out of her depression will take more than my honest opinion. Hmm… Mars… That's it! We'll just have to find Mars."

The Oracle of Lastation raised an eyebrow as she crossed her arms and leaned up against the wall. "It won't be as simple as that, Lady Noire. We have all been searching for Mars; for weeks on end we have been looking for, but to no avail. Trust me, I know he is still out there, but it's just impossible to locate him."

"Well do you have any clues?" Noire asked, eager for any sort of information.

"I think I do," Kei replied. She cleared her throat before going onto further detail. "Yesterday, I think it must have been around mid-day or mid-afternoon, someone from the Guild mentioned that they saw someone similar in looks to Mars around the south-east of Lastation City, most likely around the southern base of the Brown Mountains. I'd check there if I were you. Heh, you must really miss him if you're going out there now."

The raven haired CPU stared at Kei for a brief moment before processing what she said to her, then Noire's cheeks flushed bright red as she waved her arms around in protest. "Wh-Wh-What?! O-Of course I don't m-m-miss Mars! Th-That would be preposterous! I-It isn't as if I li… wh-whatever!"

"Yeah, yeah, if you say so," the silver haired woman chuckled, much to Noire's chagrin. "Oh, if you are going to go out there then take this."

The raven haired CPU was then given a black flip-up phone with the Lastation logo on the front, although she seemed a little confused as to why her Oracle gave it to her. "So why did you give me this? To keep you updated? Or the other way round?"

"Both. Besides, it is starting to get near late afternoon and it will definitely take you longer than you think to find Mars, even with the small piece of information that I gave you," Kei replied before she started to walk down the hallway in the direction of the kitchen. "I'll take care of afternoon tea and keep Lady Uni occupied until you return. Good luck, you are going to need it."

Noire nodded as she began to walk down the hallway towards the elevator, a determined look was upon her face as she stashed the phone away in her dress. What the CPU of Lastation was set on achieving sounded impossible, but she was determined to do it. _It's time to find a dragon._ Noire thought as she descended to the ground floor.

* * *

Finding Mars was much, much harder than Noire had imagined. True, the original searches over the last few weeks were utterly tough and frustrating, but the Lastationite Goddess had almost forgotten what it felt like to be looking for an elusive dragon. It was infuriating. The direction in which Kei had suggested to her revealed nothing more than an abandoned camp in the middle of a small forest glade. However, there were some tracks that led up into the Brown Mountains, so the determined CPU of Lastation followed them through the wilderness and into the dangerous mountain range. For normal people it would have been a nightmare to travel through the mountain passes, especially when night was falling over the land. For Noire, however, it was a simple matter thanks to her Hard Drive Divinity. Still, the Lastastionite CPU needed to be careful, the rocky surface was rather dangerous.

Black Heart soared slowly through the mid-afternoon sky, doing her best to stay close to the rocky surface without crashing into it. It had been a few hours - at least two hours - since she started the search and yet there were no signs of the young man anywhere, it was as if he had truly vanished. "Tch. Typical. Where the hell is he?" Black Heart muttered in annoyance as she flew over a rocky ridge and landed onto the mountain path. "Idiot, making everyone worry and depressed, even m-me."

After resting on a large yet flat rock for a few minutes to decide her next course of action, the silver haired goddess decided to walk along the path to see if there were any caves around the place; the Brown Mountains, especially in the southern regions, were filled with all manner of caves that were used by all sorts of creatures, but usually they were used by Ancient Dragons. It was with this knowledge that Black Heart chose to tread carefully whenever she encountered a cave. The silver haired goddess did find several caves, but almost all of them were abandoned and only a small few were occupied by creatures that were easily taken care of. However, after almost an hour of searching, Black Heart still had not found any trace of Mars. The evening had also fully given way to the darkness of the night, making it harder to see properly.

Soon enough, however, Black Heart came across another cave, this one had worn out burn markings around the area. The bright blue eyed CPU gazed inside to only see darkness. Undeterred from the menacing burn marks on the rocky surface, the CPU of Lastation entered the cave, doing her best to keep close to the wall - she did not want to get lost or be accidentally injured. After a short while of slowly travelling through the cave, with only a minor incident involving a loose piece of rock and the hard ground, Black Heart emerged into a large cavern that was lit up with a small campfire and a thin trail of smoke. There were scorch marks all over the place, loose pieces of rock were littering the ground in various areas and the back of the cavern was blocked by huge boulders that had fallen down from the ceiling. In the centre of the cavern near the boulders was the campfire, the thin smoke and a single figure who was sitting down on the ground, his back facing the CPU.

 _Who is that?_ Black Heart thought as she approached whoever was sitting by the campfire. However, it seemed that the stranger figure knew she was there.

"No need to be shy, Noire, I could smell you coming from a mile away. Sort of," the said in an almost quiet voice, yet it echoed throughout the small cavern. The voice belonged to that of a young man, a person that Black Heart recognised. Once he stood up and turned around to face her did the CPU finally confirmed her thoughts.

"Mars?" Black Heart asked, mouth jarred open in shock, her eyes wide, her hands trembling. If Neptune, Vert and Blanc were around they would have said that she truly did miss him, which the CPU of Lastation actually did. After all, Mars was the only person who knew about her cosplay hobby and had even gotten involved with it; he was close to her, although she would have never admitted it.

The young man nodded, although his face was expressionless. His hair was all messy, he appeared to be sleep fatigued, he was wearing a dirty black shirt and the same pair of jeans from the fight, no dragon scales could be seen. "Yeah, it's me. Let me guess, you're here to take me back, aren't you? When Black Heart nodded as she slowly approached him, Mars sighed and shook his head. "No, I can't go back, not now. Besides, Uni thinks I'm a monster. She hates me."

"You're wrong!" Black Heart shouted at Mars sternly as she stood in front of him, her arms crossed underneath her luscious C-cup breasts. Since she was standing close to Mars the young man could not help but glance down every few seconds to have a quick look at her boobs - if there was one thing that Mars could give the lonely CPU credit for it was her extremely good looks. "Uni would never hate you, she never could! She cares a lot for you, Mars, so don't you dare say that she hates you! It's the exact opposite!"

"You… you're serious? She doesn't hate me because I'm a dragon?" Mars asked, bewildered with what Black Heart was telling her. "Are you sure about that?"

"Of course I'm sure about it, I had a little chat with her before I left," Black Heart replied with a victorious grin. Once she saw the relief in Mars' expression, the silver haired goddess could not help but smile ever so slightly. "You really like Uni, don't you? Do you, oh, I don't know, love her?"

Mars looked at Black Heart as if she was crazy, but after short moment of stuttering and staring at the ground, the young man relented and gave in. "Y-Yeah, I do. I… love Uni. Are you, er, okay with that?"

"Do I have a choice?" the Lastationite Goddess replied with a shrug, but from the tone of her voice and the faint yet visible small smile on her face it appeared that she was fine with Mars being in love with her younger sister. However, she did have a question to ask concerning the matter. "So, why do you love Uni?"

"W-Well, um… I just love everything about Uni. From her cute looks, the way she smiled at me, those crimson eyes of hers, her personality, her determination; everything really," Mars replied as soon as he got his words together. "I guess you could that she's just beautiful in many ways."

"Beautiful in many ways, eh? Well, Uni gets her looks after me you know, since I'm her older sister. So does that make me beautiful as well?" Black Heart jokingly asked as she posed with one hand on her hip and the other behind her head. She was only playing around with the young man, trying to get some sort of reaction out of him; the Lastationite CPU decided that making him embarrassed to the point of a mental breakdown was just one step towards revenge.

However, the tables turned against Black Heart when Mars responded. "Well, I guess so. I mean, you a pretty g-good looking, so… yeah, you are beautiful in your own way."

"You… you mean it?" Black Heart asked, dumbfounded that she even received a compliment from Mars, let alone an honest one. When the young man nodded while rubbing the back of his head as he gazed away with embarrassment, the CPU of Lastation blushed brightly and stuttered nervously before speaking again. "Th-Th-Thanks, Mars. No one has ever said anything like that to me face to face before."

This surprised Mars, he thought that at least a few people, even strangers, would have told her how good looking she was. "You sure about that? Not even your friends?" When he asked that, however, Black Heart swiftly went from embarrassed to depressed. Mars noticed it and quickly realised what was wrong. "Ah, right, I almost forgot that you don't have any friends."

"Do you have to word it like that?!" Black Heart glared viciously at Mars, her fists gripped tightly and all sense of civility seemed to be gone. Soon enough, though, the haughty goddess calmed down ever so slightly as the young man's words echoed through her mind. "No friends… ugh."

Mars felt a little bad for making Black Heart suddenly depressed, so he decided to make it right by asking something that he had been thinking about for a long while. "So, um, Noire… do you want to… er… be f-friends with me?"

The questions that Mars asked was one that Black Heart had never expected to hear from anyone, let alone the very person who she initially despised when they first met face to face in the Basilicom medic bay. It made her blush even brighter due to the sincerity of Mars' question, he was being fully honest after all, the CPU could tell. Eventually, after a few minutes of awkward silence and embarrassed glances at one another, Black Heart got over her embarrassment and stared at Mars with a overly excited expression as one of the brightest smiles that the young man had ever seen start to spread across her face.

"S-Sure, we can be f-friends," the Lastationite Goddess stuttered. Nevertheless, she seemed genuinely pleased. "You know, you're the first person to ever compliment me honestly without any lewd motives as well as the first person in my entire life to ask me to be their friend, it actually makes me kind of… happy."

"Really? I'm actually surprised. Then again, with how you usually treat people, I shouldn't be too surprised about it," Mars responded, glad that the final obstacle between him and the prideful CPU was finally dismembered. However, his comment made Black Heart growl with a firm glare.

"Shut up, idiot! I'm not _that_ bad!" she retorted sternly.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Mars sighed as he shook his head, feeling as if nothing had really changed. Yet, after giving it a bit more thought, he realised that something was different between him and the CPU in front of him, it felt as if there was some sort of close bond between them, just like he felt with Uni. "Anyway, it nice to be f-f-friends with you, Noire. At least now you can back answer to Neptune whenever she brings the topic of 'loner' up."

"Heh. Yeah, I can now. Guess it isn't that bad now. Hmm, a friend… a friend.." Black Heart muttered to herself, the bright and cheerful smile growing ever more happy. She giggled before staring back at Mars, when she suddenly her cheeks blushed bright red. The silver haired goddess then approached Mars and, in one swift move, embraced the young man in a tight yet affectionate hug.

"Um, you alright there, Noire?" the young man asked in a bewildered tone. It was something that Mars had not expected her to do, so he was understandably shocked with the sudden embrace. What made his mind race was that Black Heart's breasts were pressing up against his chest, and the scruffy haired man swore that he could feel nipples poking through the HDD uniform - Black Heart must have been feeling a bit chilly Mars reasoned to himself.

"Never better," was the bright blue eyed CPU's happy response as she continued to hug the life out of Mars. Eventually she relented and drew back, the delighted expression never leaving her face. "This is awesome! Okay, since we're friends now we've got to get back into cosplaying, I have a new outfit that I've been dying to try out for a while. Guess what it is? A high school uniform that I personally tailored to my liking! I'm going to be looking like a president of the school council or something; you can be my lacky once you have found your own high school outfit."

"Gee, thanks, I'm sooooo excited," Mars responded with a highly sarcastic tone, but the tone of the comment flew right over Black Heart's head as she withdrew from the hug and stood triumphantly. "Heh, you must be pretty excited to finally have an official friend, aren't you?"

"Wh-What? I-I'm not that overly excited to have a friend, not at all!" the silver haired goddess replied swiftly with a stammering voice. It was clear that she was lying.

"Whatever," Mars sighed in defeat, no longer caring about the fact that Black Heart was being what people called a tsundere again. But it was something that he had gotten used to with Uni, so having to deal with Black Heart being one seemed like an easy feat, although she was a lot more difficult to handle. After a few minutes of being berated by an annoyed goddess, the young, brown haired dragon sighed and straightened his posture. "Alright then, Noire, I think I'm ready to head back home, back to the Basilicom."

Black Heart stopped berating the young man and appeared a little surprise, which was soon covered up by a smug and victorious look. "Heh, I knew that you would turn round thanks to my brilliant effort. Glad to see that you are seeing reason this time."

"Again, whatever. Let's just get going already, I've got to talk to Uni," Mars responded with an exasperated sigh. Nevertheless, the young man was silently happy to go back to the Basilicom, especially since he knew what to finally do about his feelings towards Uni. _I'm feeling kinda nervous, but this is for the better. It's time to tell Uni how I feel._

* * *

As the afternoon wore on Uni sat on her bed, her rifle in hand and several rifle mods were lying all over the black coloured bed quilt as the CPU Candidate removed pieces of her gun and added others onto it, yet she was silent and moody the entire time. It just was not as fun as it used to be. Even though what Noire had said to the raven haired Candidate had just about almost ended the many years of self doubt, the feeling of being useless, the agony of trying to step out of her older sister's shadow and the depressing feeling that Noire just was not proud of her, there was still something that was making Uni feel anger and remorse. It was that the Lastationite Candidate still believed that she was to blame for Mars' disappearance. Uni always wished that she could go back in time and stop herself from saying what she said to him on that fateful day.

Uni sighed as she fastened a brand new, black coloured rifle barrel onto her favourite weapon, a saddened look was visible upon her face. As soon as the raven haired Candidate was sure that the new barrel was firmly fastened onto the rifle she placed it down onto the bed, then she sighed once more as her arms laid before her, resting them over her lap. "It just isn't as fun as it used to be," the Candidate mumbled to herself as he laid down on her bed. "Where is Noire anyway? It's been awhile since I saw her. I hope she's okay."

After a couple of minutes of laying on her bead, Uni rolled over and looked at the window, the time was around mid to late afternoon. After sighing sadly again, the Candidate rolled over back to where she was before and laid her arms out on either side, closing her eyes as she attempted to relax, or at least try to. Uni was busy worrying about a certain someone again, and she could not help it. _What am I going to do with myself? I have to do something to get me out of this state, otherwise Noire would just get annoyed and fed up with me again._ The raven haired Candidate of Lastation thought to herself. _But what can I do? Ugh, I'm useless!_

"Uni?" a voice asked from the doorway; it was quiet and full of anxiety.

"Uh… what is it? Can't you see I'm trying to rest here?" Uni responded rudely with an overly annoyed groan.

"Uni, it's me, Mars," the voice spoke again, this time the CPU Candidate recognised it, along with the name.

"M-M-Mars? Is it… really you?" the raven haired Candidate asked as she stood up on the ground and stared with a bewildered look at the young man who was standing in her doorway. It was like something out of a dream. Standing further behind Mars were Kei and Noire, both of them seemed to be more than pleased. However, the silver haired Oracle looked over at Noire, tapped her on the shoulder and whispered something to her, after the senior CPU nodded she and Kei walked away to leave Uni and Mars by themselves.

Mars silently thanked Noire and Kei as they disappeared down the hallway, what he wanted to say to Uni was embarrassing for him. However, he was not fully expecting nor prepared for Uni's sudden burst of affection towards him. The Candidate of Lastation had been walking slowly in shock towards Mars for a few seconds before eh turned his head away to nod a 'thank you' to Noire and Kei, but when he looked back he was hit full force by Uni who forcibly grabbed him into a tight and affectionate hug. The young man fell backwards onto the ground with a loud thud with Uni on top of him, her arms still wrapped around his chest and her head resting up against his upper chest. The Candidate of Lastation was crying her eyes out.

"I'm so sorry, Mars, I'm so sorry!" Uni exclaimed, no longer caring how she looked at that moment or the embarrassment that echoed through her mind.

Mars managed to drag himself across the hard ground with Uni until he was resting up against the doorway, Uni was still hugging him as the young man slowly wrapped his arms around the crying CPU Candidate. "No, I'm… sorry, Uni. I shouldn't have run away like that, I should have just stayed and tried to talk it out with you and the others," Mars responded in a quiet yet audible voice. "Heh, it's always the same for me. I always run away from my problems in the end."

"B-But I-" Uni tried to say before Mars cut her off.

"Uni, I know what you are going to say, but hear me out first," the young man said sternly. "I know that you called me a monster, but I gave it some thought and I decided that I can't really blame you, anyone would have said the same thing if they saw someone they knew just turn into a dragon. Heck, I would have done the same thing. What I'm trying to say is that I don't hate you for calling me a monster, in many ways I am one."

Suddenly Uni jerked her head up from Mars' chest and stared firmly at the young man, tears were still flowing from her eyes and down her face. "No! You aren't a monster! I know that because… because I… I-l-lo… er…" The Lastationite CPU Candidate's face turned bright red as she looked at the compromising position she was in while laying all over Mars; her eyes were dizzy and her words merely became a stuttering mess as her hands began to twitch without control.

To save Uni from this predicament Mars had to take control, although what he would say could very well just add more fuel onto the fire. The young man decided to ask an important question. "U-Uni, would you… um… l-like to go out s-sometime with m-m-me?"

Uni stopped crying and stared at Mars for a short while, dumbfounded at what he was asking. "You mean… like a d-d-date?" she asked nervously.

"Um… I guess that's what you could call it," Mars responded as he gazed away from the CPU Candidate he was still holding close to him. "So… is that a no then?"

What Uni said next shocked Mars. The raven haired Candidate of Lastation stared into the young man's eyes, quivering with embarrassment as she gripped Mars' shoulders. "I-It's a y-y-yes, idiot. Yes, I'll go on a d-date with you," Uni said in a nervous tone, yet afterwards she was smiling brightly with pure happiness. It seemed that Mars had struck the right notes. "Hey, um, c-can we have the date today, like right now? I-I-I've never been on one os I just want to… um..."

Mars sighed and affectionately patted the Candidate on the head. "Sure thing, we can do it now. I've never been on one either, but I did watch this one anime where there was a date, so maybe I've got some sort of idea." The both of them got back onto their feet and glanced at each other nervously for a short moment before Mars broke the ice with, surprisingly, a kind hearted chuckle. As the young patted Uni for a moment he noticed that she took glances at his chest, as if she was visualising the scars that he hid underneath his shirt, it also appeared that Uni wanted to ask something but was deciding not to. At any rate, Mars stopped his gentle pat and stood back to look at his soon-to-be date. "Hey, it's alright, I'm just as nervous as you are. Come on, let's get going before it gets dark. Let's have a great date together."

* * *

 **A/N: Evening readers! It's been a while since I updated, well, anything really, and I am really sorry about that. While I did put up a notice on my profile, I'm afraid that I have final essays and even an upcoming exam in a few days that I need to pass, even if it's just a bare pass. While I have been studying for it I have also been slowly updating this story, so I apologise to other readers who have read my other fanfics and want me to continue with them - I swear I will, but aside from the word load I've also been having a Subject 13: Mars craze going on, been planning future chapters and everything. Anyway, next chapter will include the long awaited date involving Mars and Uni, I've been waiting to do something like this for a while with those two! It's not like anything can go wrong... right? Also that scene between Mars and Noire, it's definitely interesting; now that Noire has her first official friend I think Mars is in for a rough ride with all that cosplay stuff and jealous fan boys - poor guy. Regardless, thank you all for reading and I hope you all have a good day if you can.**


	27. I Love You

**Chapter 26: I Love You**

Mars and Uni walked side-by-side down the Lastation City streets, their gazes far from each other as they looked around their surroundings. Both of them were nervous, anxious, afraid and unsure about the whole thing. Neither one had ever been on a date before, but since Mars had a tiny bit of knowledge on the matter, thanks to anime, it was the young man who was taking the lead. Where they were heading was unknown to Uni, although she guessed that they were merely taking a walk around the city before doing something else that couples did together. Mars began to pick up the pace and managed to gain a little more speed than the Candidate of Lastation, which confused her at first, that was until she looked around to see many groups of people gazing at them, more or less specifically Mars. It was obvious even to Uni that many of the populace thought it strange that Mars was back and was out with the CPU Candidate in such a nervous wreck. With a sudden rush of red to the face, Uni swiftly caught up to speed with the young man and did her best to ignore the odd stares that followed.

"D-Do you even know what you're doing?" Uni asked Mars hesitantly. "You honestly don't expect the d-date to go out the same way as whatever that anime you watched portrayed."

"Maybe not, but at least I have some sort of idea as to how the date will work out. I think I do anyway," Mars replied, unsure whether the date at hand was going to be successful with the small amount of knowledge he received from a sketchy rated anime that he partially watched in Leanbox.

"So you have no real clue as to what to do, am I right?" Uni asked with a firm tone, her eyes staring straight into Mars'. When the young man shrugged and glanced away, the raven haired Candidate sighed and shook her head. "Well then, it looks like I have to take charge of things around here between the two of us. Again."

"No, I can do it. Trust me, Uni, I can do it," Mars said in response, shaking his head. Suddenly, much to the Candidate's surprise, the young man extended his right hand towards her left hand, nudging it gently. It appeared that Mars wanted to hold her hand. "So… um, couple on dates usually hold h-hands. L-L-Let's do that for a start."

"Er… okay then, l-let's try that out," Uni responded nervously. The raven haired CPU Candidate had never held hands with anyone before, let alone ever wondering what it would be like to hold hands with someone she liked or loved. Despite being hesitant at first, Uni gave in and grabbed a firm hold on Mars' right hand. "I-I-Is this wh-what you wanted, Mars?"

"I-I guess so. Come on, let's keep moving, I'm not liking these stares that are being directed our way. I think some of your fanboys are getting jealous," Mars replied, glancing around to see some young-looking men glaring at him, no doubt out of jealousy.

The two of them continued walking down the street hand in hand, their faces bright red with embarrassment. It was odd for the local citizens of Lastation City to see such a thing occur, and they made no steps to avoid addressing what they saw, much to the couple's complete embarrassment. People in Lastation tended to question things when it made no sense, either that or the issue would be ignored, but when you have a CPU Candidate and a Half-Dragon wandering around together while holding hands it would inevitably cause a great deal of discussion amongst the people who were strolling about that late afternoon. Some people were simply amazed that the Fire Dragon of Lastation, as many had taken to calling Mars, had returned from his dramatic duel with the War God Ares, others were simply surprised with what was going on between the two of them.

Either way, there were many people who saw Mars and Uni together that evening, and just about all of them respected it - the fanboys decided to keep silent on the matter. Several people in Lastation City who have had contact with the two of them, such as Guild members and staff members who worked in different weapon and clothing stores, sighed in relief, for they were in usual contact with the couple and hence they were quick to realise the feelings that bubbled between them. Others were simply surprised, only a few were jealous. At any rate, it seemed that, despite the embarrassed expressions that adorned the couple's faces, it looked like they were enjoying themselves.

Meanwhile, Uni was more concerned about what Mars had planned rather than what everybody in the capital city of Black Regality thought about her and the young man being together. "So where to first? Do you actually have an idea now, or do I have to take it over from here?" the CPU Candidate asked.

"I think I know - no, I'm sure I know what we're going to do. From what I know and saw from that anime, the first thing to do would be to have something to eat and drink," Mars replied, keeping a gentle grip on Uni's hand while she did the same. "If I remember the layout of this city correctly, there should be a cafe or something nearby down the street. Let's head there for a late evening snack."

"All right then. Lead the way, M-Mars," the Candidate of Lastation responded, tightening her grip on the young man's hand.

The scruffy, brown haired man nodded and together he and Uni steadily made their way towards the closest cafe, their faces still bright red with embarrassment. It did not take them long to reach the cafe, and much to their pleasure it appeared that there were hardly anyone inside. Mars and Uni opened the cafe door and walked into the establishment at a steady pace, where they were suddenly hit by a cool breeze that flowed from the air conditioners; it was a welcoming feeling for them. The cafe was not completely large, but it was of a good size and could house several dozen people if needed. The walls were of a black and dark grey colour, the ceiling was coloured white and the varnished, wooden floor was coloured brown. A long, large counter with glass panels filled with all manner of desserts and pastry delights was located in one corner of the cafe. There were many tables, chairs and lounges littering the cafe, only a few of them were occupied by locals who appeared to be eating an early dinner.

As soon as Mars and Uni had a good look of the cafe they were soon faced with a member of the cafe staff, a maid of sorts, who appeared to be the one who asked customers questions concerning seating and refreshments. The maid approached the couple, bowed before them politely and smiled brightly. "Good evening, Lady Black Sister and Sir Mars the Dragon. Would you like me to take you to a table and give you both a menu?"

"Um, sure, all right then," Mars replied with a hint of surprise in his voice.

"Very well then, this way please." The maid led Mars and Uni towards a mild sized table situated next to a large window that gave a good view of the sun starting to set over the horizon, after the couple sat down next to each other it seemed that the maid had made the right call as both appeared to be enjoying the wondrous view. Once they were settled in their seats, Mars and Uni were given their menus. "Take your time. Just call over one of the staff to order."

"Alright then, thanks," Uni replied as the maid began to walk away back towards the front entrance, ready to wait for any other potential customer who strayed inside the cafe.

Things returned to their quiet state within a matter of seconds, although they seemed quiet enough before the scruffy haired man and the CPU Candidate had even showed their faces. From the corner of her eye Uni caught sight of a young girl sitting away in another corner of the cafe with a Lastation styled shirt, denim blue shorts, black shoes and a cheery smile upon her face. She was sitting alongside what appeared to be her parents, who also seemed to be in high spirits as well. The young girl looked over at Uni and, upon noticing her, beamed a bright smile at the raven haired Candidate along with a gentle yet excited wave. Uni replied back with a wave of her own, which earned her the young girl's' overwhelming recognition as an 'awesome' CPU. The same train of thought was also directed towards Mars, who took a little longer to realise that there was actually someone other that Uni who was silently trying to gain his attention. Once the young man had given the young girl a wave of the hand, she was forced to calm down from being too excited thanks to her parents, who gazed at Mars and Uni with embarrassed expressions.

"She sure was happy to see us here," Uni pointed out once things settled down again.

"Heh, she sure was. Never knew that I was popular around here, it feels kinda… misplaced, to tell you the truth," Mars responded, his words starting to become quiet and distant as he began to doubt himself.

"Hey, come on, you're Lastation's resident Dragon as well as my champion, of course you are going to be popular. Our popularity is now entwined together, at least that was what Kei said to me the other day," the Lastationite Candidate informed Mars with a small smile. "Also, if we're on a d-date, why are you sitting so far away?!"

Uni did have a point, even though it was a little bit exaggerated. Mars, even though he was technically still sitting next to the CPU Candidate of Lastation, was sitting on the other side of the large, comfy lounge that the two of them were sitting on, thus leaving a fairly sized gap between the couple. The young man knew that couple on dates would always sit close together and even, on occasion, hold hands, help feed each other for whatever reason and share a kiss or two. However, considering how he and Uni acted around each other it meant that over half of what 'normal' couples did together was out of the question, although there was room for trying. Yet despite wanting to do date-like things, Mars could not help but feel overly nervous, hence why he was sitting further away from Uni.

"S-Sorry, I was just a bit nervous," Mars responded as he slowly nudged closer towards the crimson eyed Candidate, his cheeks blushing bright red. I-Is this b-better?"

Uni nodded in response, although her cheeks were also bright red and her gaze never met the young man's as she nodded a 'yes' to him. Uni and Mars' shoulders brushed together as the young man settled right next to the raven haired Candidate, making both of them jolt in surprise from the sudden touch. "S-S-Sorry, Mars!"

"Hey, there isn't any need to apologise," the young, scruffy haired man replied in a kind tone, although Uni would have preferred it if he had smiled - it took a short while for the CPU Candidate to remember that Mars could not smile, to which she was highly embarrassed about for forgetting that small detail.

After a couple of minutes of reading through the menu both Mars and Uni were ready to order; coincidentally they were ordering the same thing, which was simply a tuna salad sandwich with a small bowl of chips on the side along with some Nepsi. One of the staff members, another maid to be exact, walked over, pulled out her notebook along with a pen and gazed at her two customers. "So, what would you two like to order?"

"Two tuna salad sandwiches with the small bowl of chips please, oh, and an extra large bottle of Nepsi as well," Uni informed the waitress in a polite manner.

The waitress wrote down the order as clearly as she could while also being incredibly fast, no doubt because of experience, but when she wrote down the word 'Nepsi' her expression hardened for a moment before becoming apologetic. "I'm sorry Lady Black Sister, but I'm afraid we have no more Nepsi, at least for today and possibly tomorrow anyway. We have some Nowa Cola instead, if you are interested in it that is."

This was a shock for Mars, who had taken more than a simple liking to the Planeptunian fizzy drink. When the waitress informed the couple about the lack of Nepsi in their cafe she was met by the stern and grim gaze of Mars, who appeared to be more than a little unhappy with the news. After seeing the young man's displeased stare, which was grim indeed, Uni looked up at the waitress and attempted to calm the situation. "A-Are you sure that you don't have any Nepsi left?"

The waitress shook her head. "I'm afraid that we have officially ran out of Nepsi, Lady Black Sister. The supply truck that normally gives us our supply of Nepsi has been suffering some delays of late, I heard it was because of some raids going on along the border between Lastation and Planeptune. Sounds like trouble to me."

"Tch. Fine then, I'll have a bottle of Nowa Cola," Mars relented, his expression saddened by the news of his favourite fizzy drink.

"Heh, you remind me of a customer who came in earlier today. He kind of looked and acted like you, although he was a lot more angry. His dark green eyed companion had to calm his down several times after he was told that there wasn't any Nepsi left," the waitress said with an amused smile before leaving to inform the cooking staff about the order.

 _So, Ares and Enyo where here this morning. Odd, I thought they would have wanted to stay undercover for a while longer. No matter, it doesn't concern me._ Mars thought as he and Uni waited for their light meals to turn up. As the young man looked over at the CPU Candidate, who was sitting very close to him, he noticed that she was thinking to herself about something. It seemed that she was thinking the same thing that the scruffy haired man had just thought about.

Eventually, after almost ten minutes of waiting patiently, their meals arrived. Mars and Uni were given their tuna salad sandwiches, the small bowl of chips with ketchup on the side and the bottle of Nowa Cola for the young man - it looked like Nepsi, but it was still just the rival brand of his favourite soft drink. Regardless, they thanked the staff for the food and began to feast away. After Uni began to munch away on her tuna salad sandwich she quickly realised that it was not just a good sandwich, it was a great sandwich, a very tasty one at that. From the way that Mars pulled his expression it appeared that even he was enjoying the sandwich, although that may have been because of the chips mixed with ketchup he had placed inside the sandwich.

However, that seemingly peaceful harmony that was all over his face in his expression was soon replaced with one full of distaste, and it all started when he took a large sip from his Nowa Cola. "Hmm… no, I don't like it," he muttered, placing the near empty glass cup of Cola back down next to the bottle from whence it came.

"Don't be such a downer, you wanted to come here," the raven haired Candidate responded after knocking Mars on the head with her right hand. "Come on, just pretend to enjoy it. I'll get Kei to give you her whole stash of Nepsi when we get back to the Basilicom. I promise."

Mars let out a lighthearted chuckle and attempted a smile, which ended violently with Uni smacking the young man across the face after she got a good look of his expression, which was too scary for her to describe. "Don't try to smile, it doesn't suit you," the Lastationite Candidate said as soon as she ate a few chips.

"Right, right," Mars grumbled back in response, rubbing the red mark on his left cheek. "Sheesh, did you need to smack me?"

"It was self defense. You are scary when you try to smile," Uni replied in a matter-of-fact tone.

"I was trying to be nice, seeing that this is our first official date and everything. I just… want us to be happy, for you to be happy," the young man mumbled in response, his cheeks blushing bright red.

Upon noticing this, the CPU Candidate of Lastation blushed and gazed away with embarrassment due to what he was saying. Aside from that minor detail, which made Uni feel more than a bit happy, the late evening snack went well with both the CPU Candidate and the Red Dragon of Lastation. Once Mars had finished off the last of his Nowa Cola and munched down the last of the chips, with a little help from Uni, both he and the CPU Candidate of Lastation were ready to move on with the next phase of their date.

After paying for their meal Mars and Uni left the cafe, entering the darkening world outside. The late evening sky was becoming more yellow and orange, indicating that it was almost time for most people that the day was coming to a close. The young, scruffy haired man looked upwards at the sky and sighed. "Guess I should have chosen tomorrow for our date instead, it's going to get dark real soon," he mumbled.

"Hey, better late than never," Uni responded as she walked up beside him. "Besides, I'm… I-I'm enjoying our d-date together. So, um, wh-where to next?"

Mars rubbed his chin thoughtfully as he considered his options, although he was happy to hear that Uni was having a good time, and he made it obvious that he was liking that fact due to a overjoyed expression - how he managed to do that without smiling was practically a miracle. "Hmm… well, I think the cinema is still open, but I'm not one for sitting around other people while watching some moapy movie; I doubt you're into that kind of stuff anyway. So, what about the gun store? I think it's open around this time of the evening."

"Yeah, that sounds pretty good. Let's go there," the raven haired Candidate replied, nodding her head in agreement. They then walked off down the street, hand in hand, towards the gun store, both felt a sense of overwhelming joy as they walked beside each other towards the one place in the city that the couple enjoyed together, aside from their moments in the Basilicom and the Guild.

Once they reached the gun store the sky was darkening at a rapid pace; the evening was slowly slipping away into night. People were being driven back to their homes, others were walking down the streets to their chosen destinations, whether that be their homes, other businesses or the pubs. Mars and Uni opened the door to the gun store and stepped inside, eager to see what was for sale. The person by the store counter appeared to be paying little attention to the CPU Candidate and the Fire Dragon as they made their way through the gun store, although that fact mattered little to the couple, it just made it easier for them to browse the aisles without any interruptions.

"See anything of interest?" Mars asked Uni as they strolled down an aisle filled with various rifle mods.

The raven haired Candidate of Lastation shrugged as she fiddled around with what looked like a brand new, black rifle barrel. "I don't know, really. I mean, some of these rifle mods look interesting, but I've experienced less than admirable mods before, and I think this one would only hinder me in a fight."

"Is that so? Well then, I'll trust your judgement with this one, some of them don't look all that interesting anyway," the scruffy, brown haired man responded as he looked over some handgun modifications that failed to fully pique his interests.

For the next several minutes both Mars and Uni strolled down the various aisles in search of something interesting to buy, or at least give to one another once they started to head back to the Basilicom for the night and reflect on the date. Eventually, however, the young man came across some interesting energy weapon mods stocked neatly on several shelves at the back corner of the store. There were several energy gun barrels that also included automatic and semi-automatic, rifle stocks, scopes and what looked like an energy heater mod for a more dangerous yet more prone to overheating energy weapon. With a satisfied 'hmph' Mars began to search through the energy weapon mods, wondering if Uni would like any of them; her main weapon of choice was an energy rifle of sorts after all, so the young man hoped that there was something that could increase the durability and effectiveness of the weapon, both when Uni was using it in human and HDD form.

After several minutes of picking and choosing carefully from the surprisingly large selection of energy weapon mods, Mars picked out a few energy weapon barrel and stock mods along with the plasma energy heater mod. The young man approached the store counter and placed the items onto the cold, wooden and plastic counter bench, where he then gained the full attention of the cashier on the other side, who looked up from her book to gaze at what Mars had dropped onto the counter. "Mhm, is that all?" she asked with an uncaring tone, obviously unhappy that she was disturbed from reading her light novel.

"Yeah, that's it for today," Mars replied, doing his best to ignore the woman's uncaring tone. She looked like a new employee due to Mars never seeing her before; he knew most of the gun store staff on friendly terms due to how often he and Uni would visit in order to find something good, new and popular.

Once the cashier had done her job and Mars had finally purchased the specific mods for Uni's energy rifle, the young man was ready to leave as soon as Uni had gotten what she wanted, although it appeared that the CPU Candidate of Lastation was going to take a lot longer than expected to find something of interest. "Hey, Uni, I'm already done with my shopping, I'll wait for you outside," Mars informed the young woman as they stood next to each other, the CPU Candidate secretly wondering what Mars had bought.

"All right then, I'll meet you outside," Uni responded before she walked off down another aisle, more relaxed about the fact that Mars was not going to see what she was going to get for him.

As Mars leaned up against the outside wall of the gun store he placed the bag of gun mods down beside him on the ground, crossed his arms and looked up at the darkening sky. "Well, I think things are going pretty good for a first official date, all things considered," the young man mumbled to himself as he started at the stars. "But still, there's something that's been bothering me, something rather important: my feelings. Should I tell Uni my feelings, or should I wait for another day instead? If only it was easy."

Suddenly Mars caught sight of a small group of people standing nearby, numbering around four men who ranged between the ages of thirty to mid forties, all appeared to be in a foul mood. The young man would have left them alone in peace, but things started to get out of hand when they approached him, glaring directly towards his figure. It soon became evident that their annoyance was directed towards him, and could very well have been caused by him as well. Once the four men had surrounded Mars, their arms crossed in defiance towards him, the young man glanced at every one of them with indifference. "Hmm? What do you lot want?" Mars demanded in a firm tone.

No one replied to the young man's words at first, but after a short moment of silence one of the four men spoke in response. "How… just how are you so close to Lady Black Sister?!"

"'Cause I just am. Got a problem with it?" Mars responded harshly, making it obvious that he did not like their tone of voice or their presence.

"Of course we've got a problem with it! You're a monster, a beast, a filthy, scaly creature! You shouldn't be so close to one of the rulers of this country!" the one of the other men responded harshly. The others around him nodded their heads in agreement.

A monster. It was one of the last things that Mars wanted to be called, and for good reason. He knew well that members of the Guild would occasionally slay Ancient Dragons whenever they were causing trouble out in the wilderness, and because of that it made the young man feel insecure about himself whenever there were other people around him besides Uni, Noire, Kei and the other Goddesses and Oracles. However, here were people calling him a monster, therefore implying that he was just another creature to be slain, just like the Ancient Dragons of the wild. Under normal circumstances Mars would have already engaged in combat with the four men and ripped them apart, but he managed to refrain from doing so, mainly because of Uni. Then it struck him.

"Hold on, are your four all jealous of me because I'm close to Uni?" Mars asked, a bit surprised at first, but after considering the matter for a moment he quickly realised that it would be normal for many of the men to be jealous of him. Uni, as well as the other goddesses, were idolised not only for their power but also for their extremely good looks; Mars knew for a fact that there was a group of diehard Noire fans out in Lastation who probably thought lewd and disgusting thoughts all the time. It would make sense that there would be the same type of highly perverted fans that thought the same way towards Uni, and it made Mars sick.

"Of course we are! Why should Lady Black Sister hang around some creepy monster like you when she could be with pure humans like us?" one of the four men replied selfishly with a lewd grin. "I mean just look at us, we're respectable people, not to mention good lovers in bed-GAH!"

The man who had been talking was swiftly punched in the gut by an overly angry Mars, whose eyes were filled with the bloodlust of Anti-Energy. Once the punched man dropped to the ground in pain, begging for the pain to go away, the other three men stood their ground, yet their bodies were quivering in fear. "H-Hey! What was that for?!" one of the men exclaimed.

"I know that there are quite a lot of people like you bastards throughout Gamindustri, always thinking about what it would like to have sex with the goddesses, then finally jacking off to those thoughts after drawing your fantasies in perfect detail down on something. People like you lot make me sick, in fact you make me want to kill every single one of you," Mars informed the group in a dangerous voice, growling in a dragon-like manner. "Know this: if any of you or anyone like you in Gamindustri try to make a move on the goddesses, or even attempt to take their chastity by force, I will find you and I will kill you. All of you."

"Y-Y-You w-wouldn't dare kill us!" the man who first spoke shouted, raising a knife he had hidden in his pants. He lunged forward in a foolish attempt to stab the young man, which indeed was a foolish thing to do. Mars sidestepped the knife-wielding man and roughly grabbed his wrist, tightening his grip until the man dropped his knife. Then he began to scream in pain once Mars snapped his arm.

"Listen to me, one last time. If any of you try to have your way sexually with Uni, Noire or any of the CPUs as well as their human friends, I'll personally cut off your dicks, shove them down your throats and gut you all like a fish," Mars harshly warned the small group of lewd and perverted men as soon as he dropped the arm-broken man to the ground. "Don't make me kill you, your families and everyone you hold dear to you. Now go, before I change my mind and slaughter you all. Oh, if you think about posting your R 18 pictures of you fucking the CPUs or their friends on the internet then I will kill you all anyway. Leave."

With heavy hearts full of fear, anxiety and anger, the four men who had overly lewd fantasies about the CPUs made their escape down an alleyway, leaving a highly annoyed Mars. The young man truly hated people who had perverted fantasies about the CPUs and even their human friends, the goddesses and their human friends were people that Mars cared deeply about, even though he cared for them in a silent way. If those perverted pigs wanted to 'deflower' anyone then they would have to go through Mars, at least that was what the young man believed anyway. After a few extra minutes of waiting for the CPU Candidate of Lastation to emerge from the gun store, while also wondering if he was going to put up with more perverted men who wanted to do 'unspeakable' things to his friends, Uni finally emerged from the store with a large plastic bag in her hands.

"Sorry for the wait, I'm afraid I took a lot longer than I thought in there," the raven haired Candidate apologised as she walked up to the young man. She noticed that there was something off about him though, as if there was something that was bugging him. "Hey, are you all right? You're kind of like whenever something just annoyed you greatly."

"Oh, it's… er… Actually, I met a few of your fanboys, and they weren't too happy to know that you and I are close," Mars replied, deciding to answer honestly.

To his surprise he witnessed Uni sigh with annoyance, shaking her head with disbelief; it looked as if she had encountered people like them before. "Assholes. Every single one of them. Lewding us in their fantasies from the shadows, it's unforgivable!"

"You know about that sort of stuff?" the scruffy, brown haired man asked in surprise.

Uni nodded. "Yeah, unfortunately so. A couple of years ago I saw a group of young man try to flirt with Noire, which was a very bold thing to do mind you. It ended as much as you expected it to do: Noire decided to beat them up when no one was looking. Served them right for hitting on her and then having the gall to wink lewdly at me."

"I guess that's why Noire doesn't trust men a whole lot then?" the young man asked. When Uni nodded in response Mars sighed, finally realising why the senior CPU of Lastation was always to hostile to him during his early days in the Basilicom. "Well, now I know why she always hated me at first."

"But that's all changed now, hasn't it?" Uni pointed out with a cheerful smile. "Before we left the Basilicom I overheard Noire talking to Kei about you, she said that you asked her to be your friend. No one has ever asked her that before, and I doubt anyone ever had the guts to do so in the first place - Noire is pretty hard on people after all. So, I just wanted to th-thank you for making her feel happy, I think you've helped change our lives for the better."

"I can say the same about you, Noire, Kei and everyone else that I've met because of you. I… I want to thank you, for everything you've done. Really," Mars responded, his cheeks red and his gaze falling away from Uni out of embarrassment.

Uni looked away, her cheeks flushing red. "Th-Th-Thanks, Mars. You know, I… I've enjoyed our time together, I mean it." Suddenly things felt a little awkward between the two of them for a moment, until Uni gave Mars the bag she was carrying. "H-Heere, this is for y-you."

"Huh? For me?" Mars asked with a surprised tone as he took the bag from the CPU Candidate. Once the young man took a look inside he was surprised to see what it all was. "Sniper rifle parts and mods? But my sniper got utterly wrecked during my duel with Ares."

"I know that, so that's why I've been working on it ever since you disappeared. It should be good as new once you get those parts on." The raven haired Candidate then gave Mars a bright and cheery smile, a smile that he loved, and she knew it.

"Well then, this is for you. It's mods for your rifle, or for any energy weapon you've got hanging around the place." The scruffy, brown haired man then gave Uni his bag, to which she opened and peered inside. Much to Mars' delight the CPU Candidate's expression lit up with absolute joy. It seemed that Uni liked what she got.

However, there was something bugging her: it was what she had found earlier during the day in Mars' room, where she found his journal. After a short yet savage internal debate, Uni decided to tell Mars about it and get some answers out of him. "Hey, Mars, earlier today I was in your room and found your j-journal; I read the first entry."

Mars grew quiet as a shadow formed over his face, his nerves started shaking and his teeth began to chatter uncontrollably either out of fear or just by merely remembering the memories. Uni quickly regretted telling the young man about it and wished that she never brought up the subject. However, what surprised her was when Mars continued with the conversation. "Do you… want to know what I went through? Do you want to know what my past was like? Do you want to know the real me?"

"Y-Yes, I do," Uni replied hesitantly, nodding her head as well.

The young, brown haired man sighed deeply, but relented. "Very well then. Just transform and I'll tell you the way. Once we get to the site I'll tell you everything about me, I promise."

"Can't you just use your dragon wings or something?" Uni asked, surprised that Mars was asking her to carry him.

"No, I don't have full control over my transformation, not yet anyway. I'm sorry, but you're just going to have to carry me there," he replied in an apologetic tone. "Don't worry about it, let's just get to the place before it gets too dark."

* * *

"So, is this the place?" Uni asked Mars as soon as she reverted back to her human form. The area around them was covered in densely populated trees, bushes, a worn out track, a small mountain range that spanned for several miles and a large ruined facility lying in the centre of it all, connecting itself with the small mountain range. They were close to the Lastation-Lowee border, as was evident by the small patches of snow that fell over the place.

Mars nodded sadly, his gaze fixated on the ruins before them. "Yeah, this is the place. Shit, I thought I'd never see this place again, after all that happened here."

"So what did happen?" the Lastationite Candidate asked with some hesitation. "Does it have something to do with this 'Project Mars' I read about in your journal?"

"Unfortunately so. Ugh, where do I begin? Well, I guess we can take a little walk amongst the ruins, the dead won't care." Mars then began to walk towards the ruins of the old, partially obscured facility, leaving Uni behind for a moment in shock.

"W-Wait, the dead? What do you mean by that, Mars?" Uni exclaimed as she ran after him.

"The ghosts of those killed here haunt the place, at least that's how it feels to me," Mars responded calmly yet sadly at the same time. "You see, what went on here… well, you've already seen the results in Ares and Enyo. This was the headquarters of Project Mars, a facility housed by guards and scientists who did… experiments on people. I still don't know the specifics of it all, but it sounded as if they were trying to create an ultimate CPU slayer."

"But why though? Why would they do this? And who is 'they'?" the raven haired Candidate asked as she and Mars walked down the ruins of what was once a corridor.

Mars sighed as he and Uni arrived at what looked like an old, ruined cellblock. "Project Mars was the name of the group that operated year several years ago, as for why I can only guess that the thought of great power can cause anyone to go mad. Anyway, here's something I definitely didn't want to remember: the cellblock of Project Mars. The… test subjects were kept here for experimentation, and for sadistic torture. I was one of them."

"Y-You were?" Uni asked, her tone quivering from all the news.

The young man nodded grimly. "Y-Yeah, I was. There were over fifteen to nearly twenty and possibly more locked up in our own separate cells, waiting for the day where we would be experimented on. Our memories of the past became shrouded in mystery as time flew by, in fact we never really knew how long any of us had been in the facility. Days? Weeks? Months? Years maybe? It was all so… fucking horrible."

"So whose cell was this?" the Candidate asked as she reached out and firmly grabbed Mars' left hand, unaware that she did it at all. Uni and Mars were standing before a ruined cell overgrown with vines, it appeared that it had suffered the same as the rest of the destroyed facility: it looked as if a great explosion had taken place years ago.

"This… was my cell, Cell 13. Just seeing the ruins of it brings back memories, memories that I'd rather forget," Mars replied, his expression hardening. "You know, once we started to forget who we were the guards and scientists started to call us by our cell names, hence I was called Subject 13. I always hated it, but I stuck with it since I forgot who I was."

After a few minutes of staring at Mars' former cell, the young man held onto Uni's hand tightly as he led her through the open ruins of Project Mars. The young man pointed out various rooms, their purposes and so forth, all of which filled Uni's mind with all sorts of thoughts. Eventually, after what seemed like over an hour due to the night sky gazing darkly upon them, Mars and Uni came upon a large room that was almost completely destroyed. Vines grew all over what was left of the ruined walls, the remains of rusted tools that might have been used for something that was far from being good and what appeared to dried blood littered the ruined ground, there was even some rusted shackles attached to a part of the wall.

"What's this place?" Uni asked, wondering if she even wanted to know at all.

The young man seemed hesitant to answer her question, what made it worse was when Uni saw tears start to fall down Mars' face while the nerves in his arms, hands and legs started to quiver without control. Then he spoke in a fragile voice that sounded close to breaking. "This… th-th-this was the torture chamber, where we 'subjects' would be… well, you know, tortured for fun and games."

"So the scars all over your body are because of this?" Uni asked in a flabbergasted manner, barely unable to believe what she was hearing. To hear that Mars and a whole bunch of other people had been tortured for goddess knows how long, being burned, whipped, slashed, punched and a whole lot of other torture methods just made the raven haired Candidate want to hurl the contents of her stomach into the open.

Mars nodded, the twitchiness that had enveloped him could no longer be contained, nor could the breaking act he was holding up. Within an instant Mars fell to his knees, wrapped his arms around his quivering body and broke out crying. "I can't take it anymore. All these memories, they're tearing me apart from the inside, gnawing at me. I just can't take it. I've been trying to put up with it for the last two years, but I… I'm too weak to deal with it!"

"Mars... " was all Uni could say in a quiet voice as she watched the man she looked up to delve into a fite of despair and anguish. The CPU Candidate did not know what to do, she did not know if there was anything she could do.

But Mars continued to cry out everything he had been bottling up ever since he escaped the ruins of Project Mars. Everything. "The Project was destroyed two years ago when I... when I was finally experimented on and turned into the first gen War God. I rebelled and slaughtered my way through the facility, fighting my way towards their leader, but it was futile in the end. Project Mars was destroyed by an explosion, probably by Maximilian, their leader. I was the only subject who survived, all the others were… k-killed. I failed them, I failed them all. For the past two years I've done my best to avenge them and myself by murdering all surviving scientists and guards from Project Mars. I've done my best, but I still feel… unsatisfied."

 _Just where is Mars going with this? What is he going to say?_ Uni thought as she watched the young man reveal his true, broken self. The man that had taught her how to be confident, the man who would always playfully tease her, the man who would constantly train alongside her, the man she secretly looked up to, was unlike what she had originally thought of him. Mars was a broken young man, one filled with pain, suffering and loss. _I want to help him, I want to hold him and tell him everything will be all right. I have to!_

The young man continued speaking, this time his voice was barely recognisable, his crying was choking his words. "Remember that night you walked into my room in Planeptune and saw me crying? Well, that's the true me. I'm a broken man, a husk of what was once a proud person. The memories of this place haunt me mentally and physically, my scars burn with pain at certain times, always reminding me about what I had been through. I only act tough so I don't appear weak; guess that failed. Sometimes I… wanted to end it all, just so I could sleep in peace without remembering what I had been through. Sometimes I just wanted to die."

"No! Don't do that! Don't say things like that!" Uni exclaimed as she rushed up towards Mars from behind and flung her arms around his quivering body, holding him tightly against her. The scruffy haired man was shocked at first, but soon accepted it. "Mars, you should have told me about this, I could have done something about it, I could have been there for you when you needed someone to look out for you. I want to help, Mars, I really do. I'll be by your side when you need someone to hang on to, I promise."

"Uni... " Mars muttered as he twisted around in the Candidate's tight embrace, staring directly into her gaze, tears continued to fall down his cheeks. With quick speed the young man returned the hug by wrapping his arms around Uni, pulling her into a tight embrace as he rested his head up against the Candidate's right shoulder. This all lasted for what felt like a lifetime, which was actually about ten minutes of silence. FInally Mars spoke once more. "I only found out recently, but my real name is Vedrakhaal. Although I'd prefer it if you still call me Mars."

Uni nodded and gave the young man a small but sweet smile. "All right then, I'll continue to call you Mars. Hey, by the way, do you want to head back now? It's getting really late, plus… th-th-there's something I want to t-tell you."

"Same here," the young man responded with a nod. "Okay then, let's head home."

* * *

Mars stood upon one of the Lastation Basilicom's balconies, waiting for Uni to return from doing something; she never specified what she was doing, but the young man guessed that she was readying her nerves. It sounded like the Lastationite Candidate wanted to tell him something deeply important. Mars too had something he wanted to tell Uni, in fact it had been bothering him ever since the gun expo in Leanbox. The young man sighed and stretched out his back, his gaze falling upwards towards the stars. "Well, now Uni knows about my past with Project Mars and what I was subjected to. She's right, I should have told her about it earlier. I guess better late than never, I suppose."

"Um, M-M-Mars… I… um," Uni mumbled as she returned to the balcony and closed the door behind her, her cheeks were bright red and her fingers were fidgeting all over. She was clearly embarrassed and highly nervous. "So, um… l-listen to what I have to say, because I'm not going to be repeating myself. Understood?"

"Yeah, I hear you loud and clear. What do you want to tell me?" Mars responded with a nod.

"W-Well, you see… I… I um, er… y-y-you see," Uni attempted to say, yet despite planning out what she was going to say her words came out in a jumbled mess. Her entire face was bright red with embarrassment. Eventually she stopped talking, leaving only the sound of the soft wind to be heard.

Mars knew that whatever Uni wanted to tell him must be important, which was evident by how informal she had become while trying to achieve the exact opposite; it was rather cute according to him. However, the more the CPU Candidate stumbled on her words the more likely it was for her to eventually give up on saying anything, so Mars decided to help steer her back on track. "Hey, come on, Uni, I'll hear you out. Tell me what you want to say, I always listen to what you have to say."

This appeared to calm Uni down by only a fraction, but it was enough for her to continue. "Um… well, it's just… you see, I've been feeling 'funny' around y-you for a long time now, and it's starting to drive me crazy. Mars, I… I… I l-l-lo… Grrr, I just can't do it! It's too embarrassing!"

It seemed that the CPU Candidate would not be able to inform the young man about what she wanted to tell him, which silently upseted him considerably. Nevertheless, Mars had something he wanted to tell Uni, as well as do something as well. After taking a deep breath Mars walked up to Uni, gently grabbed her by the shoulders, leaned forward towards her and pressed his lips against the Candidate's. The sudden kiss stunned Uni, in fact it practically fried her brain for a moment. After a few seconds Mars pulled back, his gentle grip on Uni's shoulders was retained while his cheeks flushed red. "Uni, I love you. I've been wanting to tell you that ever since we went to that gun expo in Leanbox."

However, Mars did not receive a reply, instead all he got was a dumbfounded stare from the young woman he loved. He had truly fried her brain to a crisp from the sudden kiss and the confession. It looked as if she would not recover for the rest of the night. That was until the CPU Candidate shrugged off Mars' grip, grabbed his firmly by the upper arms and lunged forward in a passionate kiss. It was not as gentle as Mars' kiss, instead it was more lustful and full of passion. After a short time had passed both broke away from their second kiss, their gazes fully locked on each other.

"I l-l-love you, Mars, I truly and completely do," Uni finally confessed with a huge amount of joy. This was the happiest moment that she had ever felt, and the Candidate did not want it to end. Suddenly, to her amazement, Uni saw Mars do something that she had never seen before: the young man had a genuine smile, and it made her blush. "Mars, you're smiling."

"Huh? Whoa, I never knew I could do that. Does it look okay?" Mars responded with concern. When Uni nodded she felt the young man wrap his arms around her in an affectionate hug. "Uni, I truly do love you, I mean it. Can I… al-always be by your side? Ugh, that sounded too mushy."

The raven haired Candidate giggled as she returned the hug. "Yeah, that sounded like something you would never say. Anyway, I want you to be at my side, because I mean it when I say I love you, too. So, are w-we going to have another d-date in the near future?"

The young man nodded with joy. "Of course we are; hopefully we can get some Nepsi next time. Maybe we could go and visit one of the Nepsi factories down in Planeptune, that's if they're having tours at the time."

Uni burst out laughing, finding her official boyfriend's obsession with Nepsi to be hilarious. "Yeah, maybe we can do that next time," she responded before leaning upwards, pressing her lips against Mars' once more.

As the two held each other closely, enjoying the warmth and passion of their kiss, a single figure watched them from inside the Basilicom, eyeing them with multiple feelings, a hand held over their chest where the heart was. Eventually the figure left and walked back down the hallway, their twin-tails fluttering behind them, their pace slow yet steady. Finally they disappeared up the stairs, what the figure was thinking was debatable.

* * *

 **A/N: Finally, I managed to find some time to complete this latest chapter for Subject 13: Mars, and boy was it a long one, longer than I thought it would originally be. Aside from the chapter with the duel between Mars and Ares in the Colosseum of Planeptune, this is one of my favourite chapters, for obvious reasons that I doubt I need to point out. About twenty six chapters or so were leading up to this, and it sure was worth it – this is how romance in fan fiction should be, long yet not to long to build up and finally a big chapter were they confess after a heartwarming scene. Now that Mars and Uni are finally a couple, one can only wonder what horrors I'll put them through next... Anyway, sorry for the rambling. If you have suggestions please do inform me of them, or if you have questions then I'll be happy to answer them. Until next time, have a good day if possible.**


	28. Growing Jealousy and Fizzy Drink Tours

**Chapter 27: Growing Jealousy and Fizzy Drink Tours**

Everything around the capital city of Black Regality seemed peaceful enough as well as normal as they could be. People walked down the many streets that dotted the city, cars and trucks made their way down the roads towards whatever direction they were being directed at and even a small flock of migrating birds flew over the city. Everything appeared to be at peace. However, the scene of the late morning in the Lastation Basilicom was anything but peaceful, in fact if anyone said something wrong then utter chaos would break out. The CPUs of all four nations were standing in the living room of the Lastation Basilicom, surrounding a black couch with two certain figures sitting together upon the piece of furniture.

"So, the two of you are dating. Is that correct?" Kei asked Mars and Uni, who were sitting down side by side on the black couch of the Lastation Basilicom living room, holding each other's hands while their cheeks were blushing bright red. The silver haired Oracle sighed and shook her head, yet she was also smiling with happiness at the same time. "Well it's about time you two became a couple, I was starting to become worried that neither of you would confess your feelings to one another."

"Huh? You were getting worried? Really?" Mars asked with surprise. From the look of Uni's confused expression it appeared that even the Lastationite Candidate was confused as to what Kei was talking about.

"Isn't it obvious, Mars and Lady Uni? I was simply worried that neither of you would confess to each other and end up drifting apart, never getting to tell each other what you want to say for a long time," Kei explained, her arms crossed over her apparently small chest - which Mars silently believed was not entirely small - and a small smile appeared in her usual stoic expression. "Not to mention that it was easy to see that the two of you liked each other, painfully obvious."

"W-Was it that obvious?" Uni asked with a deflated tone, her gaze falling downwards towards the floor.

Blanc, who was sitting down on a chair with a book on her hands while her gaze kept darting between her book and the newly made couple, was the first to reply to Uni's question. "As Kei just said, it was painfully obvious. Despite not knowing Mars for that long I was able to tell that he liked you; hell, I even tried to point it out and offered him some books from my library to help, not that he took up the offer too often. Anyway, the two of you were pretty dense, so I'm glad to see that you've managed to get together as a couple. If neither of you had confessed any further then I would have had to beat it out of you both."

"I had no idea you cared that much," Mars responded in a sarcastic tone, an eyebrow raised as he stared at the brown haired CPU of the north.

"I don't care that much, you sarcastic jerk," Blanc snarked back with a clear glare. "Rom and Ram care, though. In fact, both of them were rooting for the two fo you from the sidelines, and whenever neither of you were around as well. They found it pretty cute, in a way."

Mars seemed quite shocked about the fact that both the CPU Candidates of Lowee, who were practically children in many sense, knew that Mars and Uni had feelings for one another wanted to confess to each other. The young man looked over at the brown haired twins, who were playing around with some paper and pencils, and gave them a questioning stare. In response, Ram stuck her thumb up with a bright and wide grin. "Yeah, we've been rooting for ya for a while, dummy."

Rom nodded in agreement; it alway perplexed Mars that Rom would simply a bit of a 'underling' to Ram in his words, even though it was rumoured that she was the eldest twin and a lot more nicer than the longer haired Candidate. "Uh-huh, you and Miss Uni are so cute together, Mr Mars."

The scruffy, brown haired man sighed and shook his head before returning his gaze towards the nicer Loweean Candidate. "Don't call me 'Mr Mars', it just makes me sound old, plus the 'Mr' part doesn't fit well with my name."

As Ram consoled her twin sister with some dramatised monologuing, which simply made Rom chuckle in response, Mars was met by the mildly embarrassed face of Noire, who had walked up to him after getting away from Neptune. "Hey, um, Mars, can I talk to you for a moment?"

The young man nodded. "Sure, I'm all ears for once. What's the matter? Unhappy that me and Uni are going out?"

The Lastationite CPU shook her head, making the Half-Dragon wonder what the issue was, if there was even one to begin with. "N-No, that isn't it, I actually don't mind you and Uni dating. But, um… I kind of watched you and Uni confess your feelings last night, and it made my heart beat a skip. It was… beautiful, but I'm not sure how to feel about the two of you kissing like that, it's really unsettling."

"Then don't watch, because I l-l-like doing that with Uni," Mars responded, winking his eyebrows up and down in an unsettling way. It had the desired effect of making the raven haired goddess growl at him before leaving.

As soon as Noire had marched off and was quickly pounced on by Neptune once more, Vert snuck up behind Mars and swiftly wrapped her arms around him, pressing her giant chest up against the back of his head. Uni was not too pleased with the last part, especially when the busty goddess of the south chuckled with amusement as Mars blushed. "Fufufu~ It's so good to see my little brother again, especially when he just got himself a girlfriend before seeing me and Nepgear first. We were completely worried about you, isn't that right?"

Nepgear, who was trying to defuse a situation between Neptune and Noire - which Neptune started by hugging the raven haired goddess from behind with a teasing laugh and a bit of a boob grab - was quickly thrusted into the spotlight thanks to Vert. The Planeptunian Candidate quickly turned around to face Vert and Mars, who were looking over at her, the blonde goddess with a bright smile and the young man with a mixed gaze. "W-Well, we did miss you, that's for sure," the iliac haired young woman managed to say, giving Mars a cute smile as she approached him, leaving Neptune alone to deal with Noire's anger.

Vert nodded in agreement with Nepgear's words, then suddenly she pulled Nepgear into a tight hug alongside Mars, their faces brushed up against both sides of the busty CPU's face. "Awww~ You really missed him you know, Nepgear. You were lamenting about how much you missed your big brother and everything."

"V-V-Vert! D-Don't just say that!" Nepgear exclaimed with pure embarrassment, her face completely red. From the look of Uni's expression it seemed that the CPU Candidate of Lastation did not appear to be too pleased that both Vert and Nepgear were not only close but also affectionate towards Mars.

Vert, who was oblivious to Uni's growing jealousy, continued further by letting go of Nepgear and fully submerged the young man's head into her cleavage all thanks to one giant, affectionate hug that one would expect from a family relative. The Leanboxian CPU had left the Planeptunian Candidate behind so she could further demonstrate how much she missed him, at least that was how it appeared in her own eyes anyway. "Well, even if Nepgear won't say it out loud, I sure did miss you, my dear little brother. I got really lonely without you coming over to play a couple rounds of Four Goddesses Online 2, plus I needed someone to massage my shoulders and back. Say, you're free tomorrow, right? Do you mind giving me a thorough massage? You can give Nepgear, your little sister, a thorough body massage as well."

 _Massages?_ Thorough _body massages?_ The Lastastionite Candidate thought with utter dread. It sounded bad enough to Uni's ears, but since it came from Vert it just sounded lewd. Completely and utterly lewd. With furious speed Uni stood up, her fists clenched tightly, and glared at Vert. "L-L-L-Like hell I would let Mars give either of you a l-l-l-lewd m-massage! And let go of him!"

"Who said it was going to be lewd, Uni? You are simply overthinking it, you dirty minded person," Vert responded with a devious grin. However, she relented and let her grip on Mars go, letting him breathe fresh air once more - it seemed that not only Uni was relieved to see him still breathing, it seemed that Noire and Nepgear were relieved to see him still alive. "Anyway, I would have suggested that you could come along for a massage as well, but if you don't want one…"

"I-I didn't say that I didn't want one," the raven haired Candidate said sheepishly in response, her finger fidgeting about as her gaze directed itself away from the conversation at hand.

The Leanboxian goddess chuckled at could not help but grin at Uni, crossing her arms underneath her large chest as she managed to gain the Candidate's attention. "See? Deep down you _are_ a pervert, although you are good at keeping it hidden."

"I-I-I am not a pervert! I was never one and never will be!" Uni exclaimed back in a furious tone, making Vert burst out laughing with amusement.

Mars, who was now left alone with Kei, watched the CPUs bicker and laugh at one another. Neptune was rolling around on the floor, laughing at a pudding-stained and utterly furious Noire; Uni was almost yelling at an amused Vert while Nepgear was trying to diffuse the situation; Rom and Ram were in their own little word surrounded by pencils and paper; and Blanc had shut the world out so she could finish off her book, curiously enough the book was titled ' _Dates for Dummies_ ' in large handwriting. The young man looked over at the silver haired Oracle and gave her a confused expression.

"So, what do we do now?" he asked Kei, hoping to find some sort of sane answer.

The Oracle of Lastation shrugged her shoulders as she looked back at Mars. "I don't know. Oh, how about you help me move some files, documents and paperwork over to Lady Noire's office? A lot of it needs her signature before final processing."

"Alright then, Kei, I can help with that. Better that than putting up with all this… um, borderline orderly chaos."

Kei chuckled in amusement, which was something that did not happen often all that much. "Very well then. Come on, let's go before they notice us leaving. I'll lead the way, and do as I say, I do not want to see any documents or any sort of paperwork go missing."

"Yeah, yeah," Mars grumbled as he followed Kei out of the living room, doing his best to ignore the chaos that was starting to get out of hand. Uni was arguing with Vert, Nepgear was trying to stop Noire from beating up Neptune and Blanc was yelling at her little sisters after they started to draw all over the books that were found in some bookshelves.

"You know, Mars, you have changed. You are not the same cold, angry, distrustful person who was first brought here all those months ago," the silver haired Oracle said to Mars as they began to walk down the hallway towards her office. "Uni has changed you, and for the better. You are a lot more settling now, and kind of nice as well."

Mars rubbed the back of his head and chuckled. "Really? Well, when you put it like that, I guess I am a lot nicer, plus I've been feeling a lot better mentally ever since I began to spend time with her."

The booming voices of the goddess of the four nations began to grow ever more quiet as both Mars and Kei walked down the hallway towards the Oracle's office, which was a relief for the young man, considering that ever since he trained with Enyo his hearing had increased a whole lot. After walking through the hallway and using a flight of stairs, which led to another hallway, the silver haired woman and the brown haired man finally reached their destination: Kei's office. The room was a complete mess with semi open files, all sorts of documents and paperwork ranging from political decisions to industrial matters littering all over the place in different piles. Mars tilted his head with a confused expression, which surprised Kei at first, that was until she realised what he was so confused about. It was the state of her office.

"Yes, I'm afraid my office looks like a bomb exploded in it, and yes there is a valid explanation for it," Kei began to explain as she started to clean up her desk, placing the files, documents and paperwork into their own separate trays that marked out which were highly important, which were not and so on. "Well come on, Mars, help out with this. There will be some Nepsi in it if you help me do this."

The young man mumbled to himself, apparently discussing the matter with open thought to no one in particular. Soon enough Mars looked back at Kei and sighed in defeat, the call of Nepsi had won over the Half-Dragon of Lastation. "All right, Kei, you win, but I expect to get paid in several bottles of Nepsi after this. Got it?"

"Crystal clear, Mars," the Lastationite Oracle responded as she continued to gather up as much paperwork as she could. "Well get on with it then. Heh, you know, you could be a useful employee for the company I'm currently running alongside my duties as an Oracle. Yes… yes, you could be useful, I need more workers."

The scruffy, brown haired dragon looked at Kei with a mixed gaze, a part of him wondering what she was talking about and the other half was wondering whether to simply ignore Kei's blabbering and get back on with moving the paperwork, documents and files around. Soon enough, however, Mars caved in and sighed, his curiosity had won the fight. "What are you talking about, Kei?"

The silver haired Oracle looked over at Mars as she dropped some loose pieces of paper into a tray that was labelled 'Notes', giving the young man an unusual grin - it was unusual due to the lack of emotion that appeared in her expressions, so to see such a grin made Mars a little worried for himself. "Hmm, you know by now that I have my own small company, yes? Well, I'm afraid it isn't going as planned. My small company specialises in manufacturing machine parts, bits and pieces for construction uses and even some weapons from time to time - yeah, we make a whole range of items."

"And you need me for something, I guess?" Mars asked as he placed some documents into separate trays and piled them together, finally figuring out where the conversation was going.

Kei nodded firmly after she gathered up the last of the documents and placed them in the last of the unused office trays. "Unfortunately business is not going too good for me, all thanks to some of the larger companies that practically rule the industrial side of Lastation. The larger companies have a monopoly over the market and bicker with each other over who controls the majority of that monopoly; it's all very annoying, but that's business I suppose. Anyway, I have a lack of workers right now and since you have already proven to be a valuable worker here, why not work for me for a few weeks?"

The young man shook his head as he gathered up a whole lot of office trays, all of which were completely filled with all sorts of work related material. It looked as if Lastation's resident Fire Dragon was not interested in the job. "Nah, I'm all good. Besides, I wouldn't like working in a factory, or whatever it is you have."

"Pity. And to think I was going to pay you well with not only a high salary but also with Nepsi, and you were going to receive short shifts, too." It was a ploy, a very clever ploy, to make Mars reconsider his decision, and it seemed to be working. However, before the young man could come up with some sort of response, Kei stopped him by handing him several trays of paperwork. "Here, carry this on our way to Noire's office, you look like you need some extra weight."

"Why can't you carry some more?" the Half-Dragon asked with a grumpy tone as he followed the Lastationite Oracle back out into the hallway, both of them carrying a lot of trays filled with all sorts of files, documents and paperwork for Noire to go through and sign.

"Because is not a gentlemanly thing for a man to carry more than a lady?" Kei responded with a smirk as she closed the door to her office behind her and walked down the hallway with Mars in tow.

The Half-Dragon scoffed at the response, which made the Oracle chuckle. "Yeah right, you're pretty thin yourself, so you should carry some more. Besides, only Uni would get such a 'gentlemanly' treatment from me, you'll just have to earn it."

"Now you are starting to sound like a true businessman. It seems that my business techniques have been rubbing off of you," the silver haired Oracle chuckled with amusement as she and Mars turned down a corner in the direction of Noire's office.

The young man gave Kei a mixed gaze, undecided whether to be insulted, gratified or just plainly amused. Mars decided on the latter. Eventually, after a short while of walking together, Mars nad Kei arrived in Noire's office. The large room was a lot cleaner than the last time they saw it, it appeared as if the cosplaying CPU had taken the liberty of cleaning up her office, which was a complete wreck the other day before Mars returned to the Basilicom and had his date with Uni. Everything work related in Noire's office was neatly packed away and stacked into different sections so the raven haired goddess would know which was more important than the others, Mars had trouble noticing it at first but he realised that Noire had dusted her office so it all appeared sparkly clean, it looked as if even her computer had been dusted as well. However, the decoration of the office and the way it appeared spotless mattered little to Mars, to him it simply meant that Noire had too much time on her hands.

"So, where do you want me to put all this crap?" Mars asked Kei as he stood near Noire's desk. The young man figured the Oracle of Lastation would want him to place everything down on it, but he wanted to make sure just in case.

Just as Mars thought, Kei nodded in response. "Mhm. Just down there next to the computer, where all that large space is. Lady Noire can clean it up later when she gets back here, hopefully without causing any issues with Lady Neptune."

"We can only hope," Mars chuckled, to which Kei responded in kind. It felt weird for the young man to see the Oracle of Lastation like this, she seemed more upbeat and open than usual. Did it have something to do with Mars' return? His date and confession to Uni? Was she on a sugar rush? Or maybe it was because of something else entirely? Mars could not guess, but he deemed that whatever or whoever was making Kei a lot more cheerful was more than likely a personal matter, and no doubt if he wanted to know it then Kei would make him do something ridiculous for the that in mind the young man decided it was better to guess rather than to ask, in this case anyway.

However, there was still one thing that was bothering him: the odd scent that came from the Oracle. The young man had smelled something similar to it before, but he could not put his finger on it at all. Just as the two of them were about to leave Noire's office, Mars decided that he had to bring the matter of the odd scent up, but a part of him was arguing to himself that it was not a good idea to bring the subject up. "Hey, Kei, why do you, um… smell weird? I'm not being rude here or anything for once, I just noticed a while ago during my duel with Ares that you smelled different than a normal human."

What Mars had not been expecting was the reaction that Kei would respond with. The silver haired Oracle stopped dead in her tracks while in the doorway and slowly looked over towards the young man with a cold glare; clearly Mars had annoyed her, even if it was unintentionally. "I would suggest that you keep your mouth shut about that piece of information. We are to never speak of this again, or else. Got it?" Kei growled at the young man, then she suddenly reached into her coat, pulled out the book about the different clans and the Dragon War and threw it over in the young man's direction. "Here, you can take this back. Remember to take your book with you the next time you decide to read a history book about the long forgotten past." She stormed off, leaving Mars by himself, confused with what had happened.

 _The hell was her problem? Did I say something weird, or was it simply too personal? And how the hell was she able to read this garbage language? Bah! Who cares, I gotta catch up with Uni and make sure she's all right; been long enough now so they should have calmed down._ Mars thought to himself as he placed the history book into his jacket and began to walk into the hallway, catching a glimpse of Kei returning to her office. From what the young man could see it appeared that the silver haired Oracle was not pissed off, but instead seemed to be more sad with a glimpse of anger in her eyes - whether she was mildly angry with Mars or with something else was unknown, for it was difficult to tell without asking. However, the young man simply shrugged and continued on his way back towards the living room.

After travelling through the hallways back towards the living room, Mars encountered Blanc walking towards him with the book she was reading in her hands, her eyes set straight at him. It seemed as if the goddess of the cold north wanted to talk to him, and indeed she did. "Excuse me, Mars, can I talk with you for a moment, please?" Blanc asked in her usual tone of voice, now holding the book with two hands.

The young man nodded as he stood still in front of Blanc, wondering what she wanted from him. "Sure, I've got some time to kill. What's the matter? Need something?"

"No, I don't need anything, but I do have something for you," Blanc replied, to which she then extended her arms out towards Mars and handed him the book ' _Dating for Dummies_ '. "Here, take this book, it may be of use to you yet. Hopefully this book will help you with whatever dates you and Uni will get into."

The young man took the book and studied the cover intensely before giving a reply to Blanc's statement. "Um… thank you, I suppose. I guess it could come in handy for me and Uni's next date."

"That's good to know. Good luck with that, Mars, we all wish you and Uni the best of times together." Just as the brown haired CPU of the north started to walk away back towards the direction of the living room, where the situation sounded a lot more calmer than before, she looked back and spoke one last time before entering the room. "By the way, I think Nepgear is somewhere around your room looking for you, apparently she was something she wanted to ask you. Uni is somewhere around the kitchen I believe."

 _Nepgear's in my room and wants to ask me something? What does she want to talk about?_ Mars asked himself as he began to walk in the direction of his room, wondering just what the CPU Candidate of Planeptune wanted with him, it must have been important. There was only one way to find out: ask Nepgear about it when he reached his room.

It did not take long for the young man to reach his room, he at least remembered it despite being away for a few weeks in solitude from civilisation - Mars was good at remembering all sorts of peculiar items of interest, and some others that he wished he could forge yet knew that was impossible. Once Mars stepped into his room he was met with a bright and cheery smile from Nepgear, who appeared to be mighty pleased to see him without the interruptions of other people. "Hi there, Mars. Um, s-sorry for barging into your room without permission, but I w-was just wondering where you had wandered off to," the Planeptunian Candidate greeted Mars with a slight stutter, seemingly embarrassed that she had been caught in his room without permission.

"It's fine, Nepgear, I don't care," Mars said in response, calming the Candidate down. "Anyway, Blanc said that you wanted to tell me something. Care to share whatever it is you want to tell me?"

Nepgear nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah, that's right. I have something great to show you, Mars. Just hold on a second, I think I have it with me… somewhere… Ah! There it is, I knew I had it with me. Here, take it."

The brown haired Half-Dragon took what appeared to be three tickets and studied them closely. The tickets were of an iliac colour with gold lining around the edges, a dark purple box was coloured in the centre of each ticket, and in the very centre of each ticket there was something that deeply interested Mars. The tickets read: Nepsi Factory Tour. Mars' expression began to brighten up considerably. "Is… is this for real? A Nepsi factory tour? Hell yeah!"

The iliac haired woman could not help but giggle at the young man's current childish attitude, to her it appeared as if Mars was reliving his childhood all over again - but if Nepgear ever knew what Mars had been through then she would have retracted her thoughts. "Your welcome, Mars. There's enough for the three of us to go and see the tour, so I'm already pretty excited."

"Huh? Three of us? Oh, you mean me, you and I'm guessing Uni as well?" When Nepgear nodded enthusiastically once again, Mars sighed and rubbed the back of his head, his gaze darting to and from the Planeptunian Candidate. "Well, um… I was actually thinking of a… You know what? Alright then, I'm all for it, might as well do it. Come on, we should go and find Uni to tell her the good news."

"Awesome! Thanks a lot, Mars. And your welcome, too." Soon after they had exchanged words with each other, Nepgear lunged forward and wrapped her arms around the young man, taking him by surprise at first. But eventually Mars gave into it, although it felt a little bit too weird for him. The hug only lasted less than a minute. When Nepgear drew back and was about to say something she stopped dead in her tracks and looked over towards the doorway, to which Mars looked over to as well.

What they both saw was both interesting and highly worrying. Standing near the doorway with the right hand side of her face viewing into the room, a hand gripping the edges, was Uni of Lastation. The CPU Candidate of the Land of Black Regality was glaring at Mars and Nepgear, and a low yet cute growl was emitting forth from her. She continued to do this for goddess knows how long, for time seemed to be everywhere and nowhere at that moment. However, Nepgear and Mars were completely confused with what Uni was trying to get across, especially the young man. _What is she doing? Looks confusing. Is there some point to that, or is it something else completely? Meh, doesn't matter, we're all going to a Nepsi factory tour!_ Mars thought to himself as he continued to watch Uni pout at him and Nepgear.

* * *

The sun was bright and showed its gaze all over Gamindustri, at least wherever it could without the clouds blocking its rays of sunlight, especially over Planeptune City itself. A small flock of migratory birds flew over the capital city of the Land of Purple Progress, where their destination was nobody knew, nor did they actually concern themselves over it. One person, however, looked up at the now disappearing flock of birds and pondered whether to hunt them down for sport or not, but the decision was soon reached that it would not be worth the effort to do so.

"Hmph. Those birds were not worthy prey, but a human is. Human. What a ridiculous name for this species. I hate them," the strange, hooded person mumbled to no one in particular, quietly voicing their disdain for humans. "Those goddesses are just as bad. Hmm, actually, I take that back, they aren't as bad as these filthy degenerates."

The person in question was quite human, in appearance at least anway. They were wearing a red hooded jacket with the hood covering most of their face, long black pants and a pair of black boots. The strange individual had pale skin, spiky red hair that was mostly concealed by their hoodie save for several red bangs covering the right eye, and red pupiled eyes; a stern and uncaring expression adorned the person's face. Much to the concern of other people who walked past the alleyway where the strange person was standing in up against a thick wall, there was a gatling gun strapped over their back. The strange, hooded person appeared to be a young man, an odd young man at that, considering that there was something off with their looks, as if there was more to the apparent young man than there was to be seen.

The young, red haired man gazed over towards the exit of the alleyway that led back towards the main street, where they saw cars being driven down the road, people strolling all over the place with bags full of shopping material while eating puddings, and then he saw something which he thought of as strange. The young man saw none other than Nepgear, Uni and Mars walking together down the street. The CPU Candidate of Planeptune was rather cheerful and was smiling at Mars and Uni, although the latter appeared to be completely unamused and even mildly angry, and her glaring was directed towards her best friend. Mars, on the other hand, was oblivious to what the Lastationite Candidate was feeling and continued to converse in conversation between both her and Nepgear; he seemed to be enjoying himself despite the lack of emotion in his face.

 _Hmm… Yes, this should be interesting to watch, very interesting. What would bring the Fire Dragon of Lastation, the CPU Candidate of Black Regallity and even the CPU Candidate of this backwater nation to this dead end part of the city?_ The strange, dangerous-looking young man thought to himself as he slowly made his way out onto the street, his gaze ever focused on the trio that passed by. _I guess I should inform Laran. Sir Laran… Pft. What a ridiculous, egotistical fool. Still, he's good in bed. Guess I'll get on with informing him._

The young, dangerous man reached into his jacket and pulled out a blood red phone, flipped it open and pressed up against his right ear after ringing up the sadistic War God. "Hey, I found something that'll interest you," the redhead informed the grandson of Maximillian.

"Eh? What is it? Got a good reason for bothering me at this moment in time?" Laran demanded in a firm tone; from what the redhead could hear it seemed as if as if the sadistic War God was in the middle of something important, although the word 'important' was a subjective term when it came to Laran.

The young, red haired man chuckled. "Oh you'll be pleased with what I've found: Mars, aka Subject 13, is wandering around with two CPU Candidates in the downtown area of Planeptune City where the only few factories that Planeptune has are located," the redhead informed Laran with a wicked grin on his face.

The silence that followed afterwards was to be expected from Laran, and the red haired man knew what to expect next. A maniacal laughter emitted from the other side of the phone, resonating throughout the strange, hooded man's ears. Soon enough the sadistic War God ceased laughing and got back onto the topic. "Is that so? Well in that case, track them from a safe distance. Inform me on what they do, but don't get noticed. Is that understood, France Shellby?"

The red haired young man grinned and nodded, but then he realised that Laran could not see what he was doing, so he decided to speak up. "Very well then, Laran, I'll get on with it. Expect to hear from me in the near future, my good fuck buddy."

"Shut up. Anyway, I better get ready for a grueling conversation with Akane, I haven't been getting any reports from her ever since Ares got his ass handed to him by Subject 13 of Project Mars. See ya later, weirdo," Laran growled back before the conversation was cut off, leaving the redhead, by the odd name of France Shelby, with a silent phone on his right hand against his face.

"Alright then, guess it's time to stalk 'em and see what happens. Just what are they doing down here anyway? Am I missing something here? Meh, doesn't matter I guess. Let's hope that this doesn't get boring any time soon," France Shelby said to himself as he began to follow Mars, Uni and Nepgear from afar, never taking his sight off the group as they made their way towards their own destination.

* * *

As the mysterious France Shelby followed his prey, keeping to the shadows of nearby buildings and alleyways so he could stay out of sight, the group of three finally arrived at their destination: the Nepsi factory. The Nepsi company was rather small compared to the other fizzy and energy drink companies. Nep Bull, for instance, was highly recommended by Guild members as a source for energy in the middle of a fight; Nowa Cola had more of a stronger hold over Gamindustri than Nepsi did, in fact the Nowa Cola company thought of Nep Bull as their strongest competitor, which made the folks over at the Nepsi company more than a little annoyed, hence the tour to showcase everything they have done in order to garner more popularity. However the heads of the Nepsi company had no idea that their biggest buyer would be coming on that certain day, and their biggest buyer was none other than the already famous Fire Dragon of Lastation himself, Mars.

The factory, in true Planeptunian style, was rather colourful, spotless, presentable and completely cheerful as well - even the industrial side of Planeptune did their best to make themselves as stylish and cheery as they could in order to properly resemble the national face of Purple Progress as the rest of Gamindustri saw them as, they had a reputation to uphold after all. The factory itself was not entirely large, but it sure did look spacious. The outside of the factory was, just like the rest of Planeptune, of a creamy white colour with what appeared to be a very light shade of purple, the windows were bright white and the stairs - both inside the factory and outside with the shipping section - matched the same colour.

It was a lot more colourful inside the Visitors Centre, where the tour was initially being held. The carpet that led from the main doors - which were large and made of thick yet see through glass - was of a iliac colour with dark purple lining around the edges. It led up from the doors towards the front counter where a secretary would usually by and direct visitors to certain sections of the factory, depending on who they were. The walls were of a bright iliac colour, the floor was coloured in a shade of magenta, the brown wooden coloured portraits of the old heads of the Nepsi company and of their products dotted the walls, and a large sign with two arrows pointing in two opposite directions was located high on the wall behind the secretary's desk - the arrows were pointing towards areas marked as 'Production Sector' and 'Visitors Shop'.

The group that had arrived for the tour was not as big as Mars was expecting, but there was still some considerable amount wandering about in different groups, which meant that Mars' group was not the first to be led around like a pack of lambs. The group the young man was in consisted of himself, Uni, Nepgear, three elderly people who were rather friendly towards the Half-Dragon, a woman with a snobby young child at her side, then there were a few teenagers with possible bad hygiene, and a middle aged man in a business suit with glasses and a dirty hairdo. It sure looked like an interesting group from anyone's perspective. The only one who showed any sign of excitement was Mars, despite his lack of emotion there was quite some fidgeting going on with his fingers, even his right leg was moving about ever so slightly with anticipation. Mars was indeed a true Nepsiholic.

"You sure seem excited, Mars. It can't be all that good, can it?" Uni said to Mars in a hushed voice, even though she, the young man and Nepgear were standing away from the rest of the group.

The Fire Dragon of Lastation gazed at his CPU Candidate girlfriend and raised an eyebrow, as if he was questioning her statement. It appeared pretty amusing to both Uni Nepgear, who had not seen Mars like this before. "Of course I'm excited, this is a Nepsi factory tour! We'll get to see how Nepsi is made, plus we can buy a whole lot of it at the Visitors Shop. Do you like Nepsi, Uni?"

The Candidate of Lastation simply shook her head, much to the disappointment of Mars. Nepgear, however, raised a hand and gained both of their attention. "Actually, I like Nepsi, Mars. While I do prefer Nep Bull, I certainly do like Nepsi."

This seemed to please Mars quite a lot. "Really? Awesome! Well, you're a Planeptunian so it would make sense for you to like them, I suppose. So then, what's your favourite type of Nepsi? Mine's the original brand, since it's the first type I tried, plus Uni calls me old fashioned when it comes to stuff like that."

"I prefer Nepsi Max, I like the taste to it," Nepgear replied, enjoying the conversation she was having with the young man. It had been several weeks since the CPU Candidate of Purple Progress had such a conversation with Mars, and she was enjoying it, considering that she had missed being in the Fire Dragon's company.

Meanwhile, an ever growing jealous and pouty Uni was standing next to Mars and Nepgear, glaring at the two of them, but mostly the Lastationite Candidate was glaring at her best friend; it appeared that Uni was having some 'issues' with how well Mars and Nepgear were getting along. _Why is Nepgear being so friendly to Mars? Is it because she hasn't seen him for weeks? Or maybe she… Wh-Wh-What?! N-N-No way! D-Does Nepgear l-l-love Mars?! No. I will never let that happen!_

"Hmm? You alright there, Uni? You're looking pretty upset about something," Mars asked as he looked over at the raven haired Candidate, curious as to what was flowing through her mind at that moment.

"Hmph. Nothing for you to worry yourself over, idiot," Uni replied, muttering the word 'idiot' under her breath. Despite saying 'idiot' in practically a whispered tone, Mars heard her due to his dragon hearing. The young man was rather confused as to why he was called an 'idiot', but before Mars could ask about it he was cut off by a woman, who appeared to be an employee of the Nepsi company, as she walked into the area.

"Good morning, or afternoon… um… Sorry about that. A-Anyway, hello and welcome to the Nepsi Factory Tour," the woman informed the group, not knowing whether it was the morning or the afternoon.

The woman was wearing an iliac coloured dress and overcoat with a black shirt that had the Nepsi company's logo over her right breast while a nametag was over her left. She had brown hair that was tied up into a bun at the back of her head, dark blue eyes and what seemed to be a wizened appearance; she at least looked to be in her early forties yet retained much of her youth. However, she seemed pretty nervous despite the lack of a large crowd, so Mars, Uni and Nepgear thought she must have some anxiety issues. The woman then went on to talk about a brief history of the Nepsi company, its rivals, their fizzy drink product - some of which Mars had not even heard of before, all due to the Lastation marketing system where the big companies did their best to sell their items instead - and finally the woman went on to talk about the founder of the company. Apparently the founder created the fizzy drink during an unsuccessful Guild quest. The original Nepsi was basically made out of random ingredients mixed with some extra supplies, and while it tasted pretty off it did help rebuild the Guild member's energy while restoring their spirits. Afterwards the formula was remade into something more enjoyable for all people.

It was an interesting history lesson, and one that no one had expected at all in the first place. But that was only the beginning of the tour, for there was more to see and much more to listen to. "Now then, if you would all like to follow me we can get this tour up and started," the tour guide said to the group with a cheery smile, which to Mars' eyes appeared to be forced.

Then all of a sudden the brown haired woman gazed about until her eyes locked on with the young man's, it looked as if she began to grow even more sad and depressed than before. However, the tour guide persevered as soon as she looked away from the Half-Dragon and began to lead the group into the main part of the manufacturing section; along the way she informed the group that since many parts of the factory were practically identical when it came to product manufacturing. The brown haired tour guide led the group through a large, iliac coloured corridor with thick glass windows in either side with a steel door further up ahead that led down into the main manufacturing area; this was where the products were initially created before being sent down the various conveyor belts to another part of the factory.

"As you can all see here, this is one part of the manufacturing stage; the other areas of the manufacturing process are in different places located in the factory, but all of them lead towards the same place. It is that place where we will be heading towards in a moment," the tour guide lady informed the group as she pointed towards the different conveyor belts, there Mars, Uni, Nepgear and the others saw machines built into the walls and ceiling, conducting most of the manufacturing of Nepsi. "As you may be aware of, the machines do most of the work with the Nepsi, mainly setting the bottles up straight, pouring the fizzy drinks into it, then they bottle it up afterwards as it goes down the conveyor belt."

"Where does it go afterwards? That room you were talking about earlier?" Mars asked the tour guide lady; from the look of it even the elderly people wanted to know as well.

Just as they had expected, the dark blue eyed woman nodded, although she kept her gaze away from the Fire Dragon of Lastation. "That is correct. Despite machines doing a lot of the work around here, there are still many human workers that assist with maintenance and with supervising the shipping of the products once they are assessed to make sure they are well bottled, secure and ready to packaging. Come, I will show you, once we pass through some more areas like this and have a chat with the supervising head of the manufacturing team."

And that was what exactly happened. For the next twenty minutes the tour guide lady took the group through several more manufacturing sectors where the group witnessed machines bottle all different types of Nepsi before they arrived in a section of the factory where the workers would assess the many Nepsi bottles before final packaging. Upon arriving in the packaging sector the group was given a quick overview of what went on with the sorting out process, the last overview of the products and their packaging. As the brown haired woman had previously stated, the head of the manufacturing team came down to discuss what went on in this section of the factory, then much to the surprise of everyone in the group - who many were starting to get bored, besides Mars - the supervisor gave everyone a free Nepsi Max Vanilla and strangely apologised if things had gotten tedious. And with that the tour was just about to come to an end.

The final destination was the Visitors Shop, which was commonly referred to as a gift shop by many people. Once inside the confines of the gift shop, the group dispersed to search and buy whatever they wanted; to Mars' excitement there were several refrigerators dedicated to all sorts of Nepsi. The young man looked over to the two CPU Candidates and pointed towards the Nepsi. "I'm going to get some; want any?" he asked them simply.

Uni shrugged. "Yeah, sure, why not. Anything will be fine with me."

"Can I have some Nepsi Max please, Mars?" Nepgear responded with a bright smile, to which Mars nodded in reply to her question. Then, much to Uni's horror, the Planeptunian Candidate gave the young man a light hug for a few seconds. "Thanks a lot, Mars, you're the best."

This time the Lastationite Candidate had had enough, her jealousy had won her over. With a low toned growl, Uni marched over to Nepgear once she unhooked herself off Mars, grabbed her by the right wrist and dragged the mecha obsessed goddess away down another aisle far from the young man. Once the two CPU Candidates were on the other side of the gift shop, Uni stopped walking, took her hand off Nepgear's wrist and faced the CPU Candidate of Planeptune with an almighty glare. "Alright, spill it, why are you being so clingy to Mars?" Uni demanded, crossing her arms defiantly with obvious annoyance.

Nepgear was more than a little confused with the situation she found herself in at that moment, and for good reason. "Um, what? What do you mean by that, Uni? You're scaring me."

"You know damn well what I mean! You've been clinging to Mars a lot ever since you talked to him in the Basilicom, not only that, but you have constantly been talking to him in an overly friendly way that I thought only I could do. What the hell is wrong with you?! What does Mars mean to you, Nepgear? What does he mean to you?"

"What does Mars mean to me? Oh goodness. Well, I guess you could say that I kind of love him, in a different way though," Nepgear replied thoughtfully as she rubbed her chin while her arms were mildly crossed under her chest. The response was not what Uni had expected, or liked for that matter, and her expression made her thoughts clear. Upon seeing this, Nepgear finally realised what her best friend was arguing about. "G-G-Goodness! Is that what you were referring to?! I-I-It isn't anything like that, Uni, trust me. I just see Mars as a big brother."

The realisation of Nepgear's affection towards the highly traumatised Half-Dragon that Uni loved so dearly shocked the Lastationite Candidate. The raven haired mini tsundere gazed at the iliac haired woman with more than a surprised look, but the Planeptunian Candidate took to heart that at least Uni had calmed down. It took Uni at least half a minute to finally start talking again. "You… you think of Mars as a big brother? Really?"

Nepgear nodded, her cheeks beginning to blush with a light shade of red. "Y-Yeah, it's kind of thanks to Vert. You know how she declared that I'm her little sister, right? Well, she also declared that Mars was her little brother, then said that I was his little sister. Guess I've taken it to heart a lot more than I thought."

"Yeah, you have," Uni responded, sighing heavily soon afterwards. "You can be an idiot sometimes, Nepgear, but this time I think I'm the idiot. I'm… s-sorry that I thought you were in love with Mars the same way I am. Just… well, don't get too attached to him, that really got me worried."

The iliac haired Candidate giggled and gave Uni a pat on the right left shoulder while smiling brightly at her. "Don't worry about it, Uni, I didn't mean for you to get really jealous like that." However, that merely made the crimson eyed Candidate of Lastation pout and glare at her best friend, which only caused Nepgear to giggle in amusement; the mecha obsessed goddess was only glad that the situation between her and Uni got cleared up.

Meanwhile, Mars was having a very peculiar conversation. It all started when the young man was getting some Nepsi for him, Uni and Nepgear, suddenly he smelled and heard the tour guide lady walking up behind him just as he was getting some Nepsi Max Vanilla. The brown haired woman stopped walking and stood still behind the Half-Dragon, what she wanted was beyond Mars, but all he cared about was explanations. "What is it? I'm busy getting Nepsi here," the former test subject impatiently asked as he gathered up some more Nepsi before turning around to face her.

"Tell me, what is your name?" the woman asked in a curious tone, never blinking and never faltering from the young man's stern gaze - most people were afraid of Mars' gaze. "Surely it isn't Mars, it is simply no name for a dragon."

"So you were there during the duel with Ares. What does it matter? I prefer to go by Mars, it sounds better, despite the past that shadows it," Mars responded sternly, his right hand gripping onto the Nepsi Max Vanilla bottle tightly, remembering the horrors of Project Mars. Soon enough the young man snapped out of his daze and returned his gaze towards the tour guide. "Anyway, why did you want to know who I am? Isn't the name 'Mars' enough for you to know?"

"I want to know who your parents were," was the reply. It was an unexpected answer, and one that Mars did not want to properly respond to. In the end, the Fire Dragon of Lastation merely shrugged and sighed deeply. "I don't know my parents, except that my father was a Dragon, but I don't know what my mother was, probably a human I reckon."

For some reason, the tour guide lady nodded sagely, as if she had realised something. Eventually the brown haired woman gave the young man a smile, yet it was sad and told quite a bit about her personality. "Well, I guess I should let you get back to the others. I'll see you another time, perhaps." And with that she left the gift shop, leaving a highly confused and suspicious Mars behind.

 _Hmm, I think that woman knows more about me than she's letting on about. Dammit, she must know who I am and who my parents are. Shit… Well, I can deal with it another time, she didn't appear to be a threat of any sort._ The Half-Dragon then made his way towards Uni and Nepgear with many Nepsi bottles in his hands and arms, hoping that the two CPU Candidates were getting along better - Mars had heard the two's conversation thanks to his dragon hearing. Upon nearing Uni and Nepgear, Mars was surprised yet greatly relieved to see them smiling brightly and talking with great enthusiasm; this all made the young man feel pretty good. _It's good to see the two of them be happy and all that. I think I should take Uni out on a date and do something she would like, that would be good to do. Yeah, I'll do that. But first: Nepsi time._

* * *

Far, Far away from the Nepsi factory, and even Planeptune for that matter, a certain woman sat upon a chair in a dark lit room with only a computer screen in front of her. She was watching what looked to be footage from the duel between Mars and Ares, studying it closely, a finger adjusted her glasses with anticipation of what was to come. Once the footage showed Mars and Ares fighting each other with Dragon Force activated, the glasses-wearing woman stopped the video and stared firmly at a certain image of Mars, the red dragon scales covering the left side of his body, Anti-Energy and Dragon Fire emitted from his body. "It's him, it has to be," the woman muttered in an almost quiet tone.

"Who is who?" an elderly female voice asked from the darkness.

"Just someone who I had been searching after for a very long time," was the reply. The woman then stood up, brushed her blue haired bangs away from her forehead, revealing her dark purple pupiled eyes. Suddenly her eyes turned into a shiny dark purple colour with black veins and black pupils, the pupils were wide and serpent-like, her teeth appeared to be more sharp than before, just like how Mars and Ares had done it during their fight. It was then that a cold, blue flame began to emit from her body, flowing about like a candle in a light wind. "Vedrahkaal. I will find you again, I promise. Whether you remember the real me will be another matter."

* * *

 **A/N: Been a while, but I finally did it, I finally updated this story - Subject 13: Mars is probably one of my most successful Neptunia fanfics to have ever been published, and I am proud of that. This chapter is basically what I call a 'semi-filler chapter'; it's basically a chapter where half or over of the content is filler while the rest is based around parts of the plot, making it move forward for anticipation with future chapters that I have planned. Expect to see more of these if I post date chapters that have no real part of the main plot but still have some relevance to it due to some other characters. I am getting excited for the next few chapters, especially ever since I wrote the last part of this chapter - the part concerning that blue haired woman (free pudding to all those who guess the person). Anyway, thank you all for reading this chapter and I hope you all look forward to future updates.**

 **I also want to thank Authoria - The Heart for the character France Shelby, I hope that I do a good job at portraying this OC of yours well in the lore of my story's plot, expect more shenanigans with this character later on. And before you readers start thinking about it, no, I'm not accepting OCs at the moment, but I might in the future. I already got two new OCs for the plot of the current arc and a future one, if I manage to get to it - one has already been shown, the other won't be for a while now. Again, thanks for reading, leave a review for any sort of reason and may the Goddesses guide you.**


	29. Fire and Iron

**Chapter 28: Fire and Iron**

Kei sat in her black office chair, surrounded by small stacks of fresh paperwork, grimacing at the sight around her. The silver haired Oracle sighed, rested her elbows on the desk and rested her head in her hands. She appeared to be deep in thought over some sort of issue, but whatever that issue was no one knew. The Oracle sighed once again and leaned back into her chair, her eyes stared upwards towards the ceiling above. "Ugh. I need help, at least some help anyway," she muttered to herself in a quiet tone. "I wonder… is Mars still available? He's pretty strong, could be useful in a business meeting when something goes wrong, either that or he's going to make a forceful impact on those big shot idiots."

The silver haired Oracle of Lastation was not doing much work as she mumbled over what sounded like plans for her business, but it sounded as if Mars was needed for something, something that the Oracle thought of as important for whatever reason. _Hmm… yes, Mars will have to do, and hopefully I may be able to entice him to act as an actual worker for the rest of the day, as long as I have spare Nepsi to give him._ Kei thought to herself, rubbing her chin thoughtfully in the process.

It was during this train of thought that Uni entered the room with several small stack of paperwork in her arms, and the first thing the CPU Candidate saw was the thoughtful expression that adorned Kei's face. "Are you all right, Kei? You seemed kind of troubled," Uni asked with a concerned tone as she set the paperwork down on the Oracle's desk, her gaze set directly in Kei's direction.

"Huh? Oh, I'm fine really, I was just thinking about something was all," the silver haired businesswoman responded back as she looked back at Uni, grateful that the raven haired Candidate had given her the stacks of paperwork that she needed to either be signed or filed away before they could be sent to wherever they needed to be sent to; from the look of it the paperwork had already been signed by Noire, so that part of the work was already over and dealt with.

"Really? What were you thinking about?" Uni asked, curious as to what the Lastationite Oracle was thinking about; to Uni it seemed that the silver haired Oracle had been completely deep in thought when she first entered the office.

 _Hmm, I guess it would not hurt to ask Lady Uni about who Mars is going work-wise, he hasn't been doing a whole lot of Guild work lately. Actually, Mars hasn't been back all that long, at least three days now if I remember correctly; could be four days for all I know, I have lost count due to all this overworking I've put myself in. I better tell Lady Uni about the matter._ Kei thought to herself before answering Uni's question. While the silver haired Oracle was thinking about the situation, the Lastationite Candidate was staring at her with a confused gaze, waiting for an answer the entire time. Finally, Kei spoke. "I was just thinking about my business in general, just wondering if I need a new worker and what they could do for me. Tell me, Lady Uni, how is your relationship with Mars going?"

"How are me and Mars going? Um, well, I think we're going okay. Actually, we're pretty good," Uni replied back, her cheeks blushing a light shade of red while a finger began to fidget around with her raven black hair. "I've… you know, I really don't know what to do most of the time, I've never been in a situation like this before, where I have my own boyfriend and all. Sometimes I just don't know what to do. I-I like having dates with Mars and doing a couple of Guild quests together, but aside from that I really don't know what to do. I'm also worried about how Nepgear seens Mars as a big brother, and what if she starts to see him as more than that. I don't want Nepgear to be a rival, she's my best friend, plus she helped Mars in the first place with his feelings."

Kei raised an eyebrow and chuckled, mostly to herself more than anything. "Is that so? Well, from what I have seen of the two of you being together every day, I would have to say that you two are getting along very well as girlfriend and boyfriend, and I know that I, all your friends and Lady Noire support the both of you, no matter what your older sister thinks of Mars. Although now that I think about it, I think Lady Noire has been a lot more nice towards Mars as of late. A far cry from how she originally acted towards him, don't you think? Also I would not worry about how Lady Nepgear sees Mars, you know how attached she gets to people."

The Lastationite Candidate giggled, unable to stop herself from acting all proper, just as she preferred to act all the time, unless she was with Mars some of the time. "Heh, yeah, Noire has been a lot nicer to Mars lately, in fact she was the one who went out of her way to find him after I… yeah, when I said all that stuff to Mars."

"Hey, don't get all depressed about that mistake, Mars has not held it against you, and I highly doubt that he ever will hold it against you. He loves you dearly, and nothing will ever change that. You have really changed Mars for the better, and he has changed you, too. You are not as hard headed as before, that and you are a lot more refined and toned down, in a good way of course," the silver haired Oracle informed the CPU Candidate with a caring smile, which resulted in Uni blushing and pouting at Kei.

A couple of seconds later, after Uni had mildly recovered from being embarrassed, she asked Kei another question, this time it was an old worry from before. "Well, if you say so. But are you sure that I don't need to worry about Nepgear?"

"Yes, I'm sure, for now anyway. Feelings can change, but this is Lady Nepgear we are talking about, so I have no doubt that you are still mistaking her attachment to Mars as something else. Just be cool about it, she does look up to Mars as an older brother you know." As soon as the Lastationite Candidate had calmed herself down, Kei asked the raven haired CPU Candidate a question that had been bugging her for a while. "Say, Uni, does Mars actually do any work? Aside from working at the Guild as a monster hunter and occasionally helping out you Goddesses with the paperwork, no matter how forced?"

Uni appeared a little confused with the question, but she answered it all the same. "Well, not really, from what I know of anyway. Why do you ask?"

"If that's the case, then how would you lithe idea of Mars working for me for a day?" After Kei had asked that simple question she was met with the glaring stare of Uni, which was something that the Oracle had expected. "Now hold on, it isn't anything dangerous, it is simply an easy job that involves some standing around and looking tough, that's all there is to it. That and maybe helping out with some production problems. What do you say to that?"

The crimson eyed Candidate of Lastation grumbled to herself for a short moment as she thought it over without trying to argue with Kei, which was an improvement in itself, considering that Uni would usually just argue. It seemed as if the CPU Candidate would disagree with the idea, however, she simply sighed and rubbed her temples before giving Kei a spoken answer. "Well, fine, all right then. But just make sure that Mars doesn't get hurt, and make sure that-"

"He will be absolutely fine, Lady Uni, there is no need to worry about his well-being. Sheesh, ever since you and Mars started dating you have been a lot more protective of him," Kei pointed out as she interrupted the CPU Candidate from attempting to set down a set of rules that she had for looking after the Fire Dragon of Lastation.

In response to this, however, Uni looked away from Kei, her eyes staring at the floor intensely. Her memory of an emotionally broken Mars in the ruins of the old Project Mars facility began to play out in her mind. "You haven't heard what I have heard. I know everything about Mars, at least what he told me anyway. Just don't question why I look out for Mars in that way, he just needs to be supported, no matter what."

Upon seeing the saddened expression on Uni's face, Kei sighed and quickly made moves to apologise. "Sorry about that, Lady Uni, I did not mean for you to remember something about whatever you or Mars went through. Before you say anything, no, I do not want to know what went on with either of you; it is not my place to get involved with your personal lives like that. Anyway, do you think Mars will accept the job, at least for today? I have to leave soon, so I need an answer."

After giving it some more thought, Uni grumbled to herself and relented. "Ugh, fine then. Jus clear it up with Mars first, let him hear what he has to say about the proposition."

The silver haired Oracle nodded politely to Uni as soon as she had stood up, acknowledging the Candidate's request. "Very well then, I will ask Mars and see what he thinks of the proposition. I have no doubt that Mars will accept the job, at least for the day anyway, I am highly sure of it."

"How can you be so sure?" Uni asked the confident Oracle, concerned and highly suspicious about it all.

Kei chuckled and did her best to allay Uni's worries. "Have no fear, Lady Uni, there is no need for you to worry about it. I know from past experience that Mars is… stubborn, annoyingly so. Whenever I need his assistance I usually have to entice him with something of value, mostly Nepsi of course. Don't worry, I never force Mars into anything. Just leave it to me and my business acumen. Once Mars has agreed to the position, we will set out to my business building and do what must be done. Hopefully we will both be back by around dinner time, maybe around eight or half past nine."

"You sure everything will be fine?" Uni asked with a lot of concern in her voice. "I don't want him to get hurt, or for hi mto get bored you know. If Mars is doing the job but doesn't like it then he's allowed to leave, got it?"

The silver haired Oracle of Lastation nodded in agreement to what the raven haired CPU Candidate laid down as some simple rules, some simple rules anyway, although what Uni had said before undoubtedly counted as rules as well. Kei knew that she had to abide to Uni's wishes, especially now that the CPU Candidate and the young, scruffy haired man were dating. "Do not worry, Lady Uni, I will make sure that Mars is looked after to the best of my abilities. Just leave it to me."

* * *

"Hmm… how many bottle of Nepsi should I give to Mars as an incentive to do some work for me? Two? Three maybe? Or should I just go ahead and give him four, just to be safe?" Kei mumbled to herself as she walked down the hallway towards Mars' room, counting how many bottle of Nepsi she might have to give to the Fire Dragon, just in case he was not interested in doing some work for her. "Would be nice if he didn't have to ask for Nepsi, weekly gun magazines or pain relievers all the time, but I guess that is merely business around here between the two of use. Actually, come to think of it, why does he need pain relievers? Never asked because it was just business transactions, but it just doesn't sit right with me. Oh well, I doubt Mars would even tell me anyway."

It did not take the silver haired woman to reach Mars' room, mainly because she was already near the room. Once Kei had arrived at the young man's bedroom door she peered her head through to see what was inside and what the room looked like; it had been a long time since the Lastationite Oracle had even stepped foot inside the room, let alone think about what was inside it. As Kei looked around the bedroom she was surprised to see it completely clean and spotless, a far cry from what the generic rule of male occupied bedrooms, from what the silver haired Oracle was told anyway.

The room was absolutely spotless, not even a hint of dust or loose pieces of clothing could be seen; it seemed as if Uni had bugged Mars about his room for so long he had just come to accept cleaning in on a daily basis. After glancing around for a few second Kei finally found Mars sitting on his bed, cleaning the barrel of his newly fixed sniper rifle. Kei did not have much knowledge on guns and all, but she did know that the young man's sniper was hardly a sniper rifle at all, in fact it looked more like a hunting rifle with a large scope and some other modifications added to it. She once brought the topic up with Mars at some point, and he responded with the words 'So what? Works the same as any other long ranged rifle'.

"Excuse me, Mars, may I have a moment please?" Kei asked the young man before entering his room, once he nodded his head anyway. When Mars did nod his head, the silver haired Oracle walked into his room and stood near the Fire Dragon of Lastation. "Are you doing anything important today? Such as taking Lady Uni out on a date, helping Lady Noire deal with some paperwork, some Guild work maybe, or perhaps even going to the Planeptune Colosseum for some time?"

Mars looked up at Kei and shook his head, much to the Oracle's delight. "No, haven't got anything planned for today. Why do you ask, though? You're wanting me to take care of some business for you with the highways again aren't you? Look, I hate the War Gods and what they represent, but just let me take care of this weapon first."

Kei shook her head as she let out a lighthearted chuckle. "No, it isn't about the War Gods this time, Mars, it's something else completely. I was wondering if you would like to work for me for the day; no catches, nothing out of the ordinary and it is all completely safe. So, what do you say?"

"Not interested, Kei. Take your… whatever you call it to someone who actually wants to work for you," Mars responded in a firm tone, his expression lacking any sort of emotion.

The Lastationite Oracle had expected this to happen, so she had naturally already came up with a backup plan just in case. "Would you reconsider your choice if I gave you not one, but two bottles of uponed, fresh, cold Nepsi?" Kei asked, knowing that it would make the young man reconsider his words.

And indeed it did. The young, brown haired man stopped cleaning the barrel of his long ranged rifle and stared at the silver haired Oracle with an unblinking stare, her words processing through his mind. "Hmm, how much are we talking about here? Two isn't enough you know."

"Three bottles of Nepsi, plus a new weekly gun magazine as well," Kei offered, her arms now crossed before her chest as she continued to stand in front of Mars. This is what usually happened whenever Kei wanted Mars for something, the Oracle had to deal with the young man in a business kind of way, which she was more than happy to oblige in. It could be said that even Mars, the Champion of Black SIster and the Fire Dragon of Lastation, had learned a thing or two from the business savvy woman, which was a source of concern for Uni.

At any rate, Mars shook his head at the deal before adding some extra flavour to it. "No deal, but if it were five bottles of Nepsi with three weekly gun magazines…"

"Too pricey, Mars, too pricey," Kei refuted as she shook her head. "I can go with four bottles of Nepsi, but only one weekly gun magazine about various handguns and rifles."

"What about five bottles of Nepsi and you tell me why you smell so… nonhuman, and I help you out with paperwork for a couple of days," the Fire Dragon of Lastation suggested, but the response was only half of what he expected.

The silver haired Oracle glared viciously at the young man and was just about ready to knock him on the head with her fist, yet she managed to hold herself back from doing so. "I told you to leave that subject alone, or else. Also I completely and utterly refuse your suggestion. Try again."

"All right then, four bottles of Nepsi at the start with whatever you want to give me at the end, and two weekly gun magazines," Mars offered as he stood up, walked over to his bedside drawer, pulled out his wallet and reached into itto check how many credits he had. "And how 'bout this: I get you some afternoon teas to top it all off. How does that sound to ya?"

Kei seemed a little bit confused with the whole lunch part of the agreement, and voiced this to the young man. "Why would you want to buy me afternoon tea? Last I checked you only bought food for Uni whenever she ran out of money due to her spending all of her savings on rifle modification and magazines."

"Because you never have any afternoon tea or lunch and barely any snacks for that matter, homemade or from a shop, and it's always whenever you're working; it's been getting at Uni and Noire's nerves lately. Besides, I have a whole lot of credits thanks to some Guild quests with Uni, and I may or may not have 'borrowed' some money from Noire when she wasn't looking," Mars informed the silver haired Oracle, chuckling soon afterwards.

"You stole money off Lady Noire? I'm impressed, and also slightly insulted," the Oracle of Lastation remarked, a hand now on her hip while the other arm was hanging down by the side of her body. "You have guts, Mars, that I have to hand to you."

Mars shrugged with an uncaring look to his face. "Meh, Noire wasn't using it, plus it was lying out just waiting to be taken. Also, I prefer the term 'borrowed', saying it was stolen is merely subjective; I could pay her back for all you know."

This resulted in Kei breaking out in a highly amused giggle, something that Mars had not expected to hear, nor had he heard the Oracle be this amused before, so it was all rather surprising to hear such giggling from her. At least Kei seemed to be in good spirits. Eventually the Oracle calmed down, returned to her senses and got back to finalising the deal between her and Mars. "All right then, Mars, you have a deal. I don't mind being taken out to lunch, been a long time since I ever went for something to east that was made in a restaurant. But let me tell you this right now: this is _not_ a date. You are already dating Lady Uni, no need to get your fantasies up a notch."

"I never considered it, and I _never_ have any fantasies for your information," the Fire Dragon of Lastation responded with a narky tone, knowing full well what was and what was not. "Anyway, should we be making tracks? You can tell me what this job is about on the way."

"Heh, maybe you should ask about the job before accepting it. But nonetheless you are right, I will be telling you about the job on the way, and what I said before about it is the truth by the way," the silver haired Oracle informed the young man as she began to head towards the bedroom door. "Well, let's get moving, my meeting with the other company CEOs is in an hour. I'll drive us there, but during the meeting you just have to act tough, that way I'll be able to get what I want."

"And what is it that you want?" Mars asked Kei as he gathered up a few of his things, such as his two Glocks, before following the silverette out into the hallway.

"I want them to leave my company alone," was the reply that the young man received from Kei. It was a reply that Mars was not expecting, but considering that Kei worked in the corporate business world it made some sense, once the young man had given it a bit of thought.

As Kei and Mars walked down the hallway towards the elevator, the young man decided to ask about what was going on with the Oracle's company, and why other businesses were bothering her. Once they had stepped foot in the elevator, Mars asked his question. "So just what are these businesses doing to your company anyway? Buying all of your stocks or something?"

"At first, yes. It's a hellish reality in the business world, and I knew that well when I decided to join in. I come from a line of successful business owners, from shops to restaurants and even some of the major corporations that deal with weapons and technology. All on my mother's side of course, my father was just a miner, plus I have no idea what his family line ever did," Kei replied as she leaned up against one of the elevator walls while the two of them descended towards the ground level. "The big shots at the fancy companies don't seem to lie the idea of an Oracle of the CPUs having her own business, even if it is small. They keep buying my stocks, but now that I have kept rebuying them they have stepped up their game and decided that they want to buy my business off me. Idiots, the lot of them."

"Does your business even have any contracts or deals or whatever with anybody?" Mars decided to ask as the elevator neared the end of its destination.

Kei nodded in the young man's direction. "You are correct, Mars. I have some contracts with local and much more smaller business, even a few stores as well. In fact I also have a contract with the leading engineers of the science division in the army, they were working on a few new bits of technology and asked me for help, so I did, and still am. That is one reason why I cannot accept the idea of someone else taking my company away, plus my mother would laugh in my face and say 'told you so, you should have stuck around with the family company in Sony City'. I just cannot accept that happening."

 _Sounds like Kei has some family issues, that's rather surprising to hear._ Mars thought to himself as the elevator doors slid open to reveal the long corridor towards the front entrance, where Uni was standing with her arms crossed and a not so happy expression upon her face. Mars sighed and shook his head, knowing what his CPU Candidate girlfriend wanted to say to him and the Oracle beside him.

As soon as Mars and Kei reached the front entrance of the Basilicom, Uni stopped them in their tracks and began to speak. "Mars, I want you to keep yourself safe and out of harm's way, don't do anything reckless, and if the job gets boring then come back home," the raven haired Candidate instructed the young man, behaving like an overly attached girlfriend, which she practically was at this point, but Mars just found it to be cute. Uni then turned her attention to Kei. "Don't make Mars do anything he doesn't want to do, got it? Just… just look out for him, p-please."

The young, scruffy brown haired man chuckled and affectionately rubbed Uni head, much to her chagrin. "Hey, I'll be fine, don't worry 'bout be, Uni," Mars said with a smile that Kei, nor anyone except Uni, had never seen before. Then suddenly the young man lunged forward and connected his lips with the CPU Candidate of Lastation's lips, catching off her guard.

The kiss only lasted a few seconds, but once Mars leaned back it was easy to tell that Uni wanted to continue it for much, much longer, although she quickly disguised that fact with her embarrassment. "D-D-Don't just k-k-k-kiss me out of the blue like that! At least, n-not when th-there's a lot of people around…"

"You're very bad at lying, Uni, but um, s-sorry 'bout that," Mars apologised with a cheeky grin, another expression that Kei never expected to see at all. "Well, we better be heading off now. See ya later, Uni, have fun without me."

Before Mars and Kei could fully depart the Basilicom, the Lastationite Candidate had one last thing to say to the Fire Dragon. "H-Hey, Mars, I l-l-love you."

Mars looked back at Uni as a bright, sweet smile appeared on his face. "I l-love you too, Uni. See you later."

Once Uni gave them a last goodbye wave, Mars and Kei walked away from the Basilicom and out onto the street, there they went over to the Oracles car - which was coloured black with white parts to it, although Kei never specified what model it was - and entered it once the silver haired woman had unlocked it. As Kei drove down the road she took swift glances at Mars, who was finding the whole experience to be a little bit difficult. "Feeling okay there, Mars? You look a little worried," she asked the young man once they stopped at a red light.

"Urgh… Huh? Oh, of course I'm fine, why wouldn't I be?" Mars responded, his pride returning to defend him. But once the red light turned green and the car lurched forward, the young man started to feel a little sick. "I-I'm fine, really."

"You have a case of motion sickness? Really?" Kei asked with a hint of surprise in her tone, but the vicious glare from Mars stopped her from asking any further questions about it. After a few more minutes of driving around the Oracle stopped and parked the car out at the front of a cafe called 'Passe', which looked to be occupied by a few people in fancy, business clothing. From the way Kei looked at them as she and Mars left the car it appeared as if those people were the ones trying to buy up her company. "Looks like they are getting some lunch. You hungry, or do you just want to get to the company building and wait for them?"

"I'm not hungry, so let's wait for them. I'll get us some afternoon tea or whatever after all this. Actually, where is your company anyway? Must be close by if we parked out here," Mars responded before asking Kei the question that had been on his mind for a few seconds.

To the young man's surprise, Kei pointed towards the small, environmentally friendly factory that was situated next to Passe. Mars had seen it before when he and Uni had walk by the street several times, but the young man had never expected it to be Kei's company, and factory for that matter. It was rather small compared to business corporation buildings and factories as a whole, in fact it looked more like one of the buildings that were common to see in the middle of Lastation City. At least it was environmentally friendly and more appealing than most of the other factories and corporate business buildings that one could find across all of Lastation, not just in the capital city itself.

Upon entering the building Mars saw just how well the place was kept in terms of cleaning and appearance, and they were only in the entrance room with the front desk. It appeared that Mars and Kei were not in the factory part of the building but were instead in the office part, at least the bottom level of it anyway. The walls were grey with barely any life to them except for a few windows with the sunlight gazing through, the floor was made up of a black floor with no hint of any mess, several comfy chairs and small tables were located in two separate corners of the room, but no one was sitting on them. After Kei had a short chat with the front desk secretary, who lacked any sort of emotion, the Oracle and the Fire Dragon made their way to the elevator, where the young man was informed of the situation.

"As you are undoubtedly aware, the heads of the companies and factories who want to buy my company are having lunch in Passe, but one of the big shot's secretaries, at least I think it might be a secretary, is already waiting for the meeting to start," Kei informed Mars as the elevator went upwards to their destination, to which he nodded.

It was not a tall building, so the trip in the elevator did not take all that long at all. Once they were out of the moving object Kei and Mars walked down the corridor towards the meeting room, the sounds of factory machines echoed throughout the walls as the two of them continued onward. It was not until they reached a corner that Mars began to smell something, or rather someone, familiar. He stopped in his tracks as his Dragon Smell began to kick in; he constantly sniffed the air around him, much to Kei's amazement. Suddenly his expression lightened up and he broke out into a run, leaving the silver haired Oracle behind with a dazed look on her face.

After running for about a minute, Mars finally reached the meeting room to see a person leaning up against the wall with their arms crossed under their chest, a bored expression was plastered on their face, that was until they looked up at the young man and smiled at him. "It's been a while, Mars," the woman said to the Fire Dragon, clearly pleased to see him standing before her.

"Same back to you, Enyo," Mars responded, silently pleased to see the blonde haired woman again after three weeks of absence. "You here to provide some muscle for one of the top business owners or something?"

Enyo nodded. "Yeah, was roped into it when trying to get into the Guild. Some top shot wanted some muscle to help with a business deal, the pay was pretty big if I managed to help with it. I guess you're here for the same deal with that Oracle. Looks like this meeting won't last long once everybody sees you with her in there."

The former War Goddess of Project Ares was hardly any different than when she and the young man had last met, except for some notable weathering to her clothes, boots and some dirt was visible on what she was wearing, even the apparently new hat that was being worn - which looked like a brown cowboy hat with the sides flipped upwards - seemed to be affected as well. Enyo walked over to Mars just as Kei appeared around the corner, who was breathing raggedly.

"I've been hearing what you were up to this past week, very interesting stuff indeed. I would congratulate you on getting a girlfriend, but considering that she's the CPU Candidate of Lastation I'll keep it to myself," the shapeshifting woman said, clearly reminding the young man that her opinion on the Goddesses was far from admirable, for a reason that he still did not know about. But Enyo continued on. "Regardless, I suppose I can play nice about it."

"Well that's nice and all, I suppose," Mars grumbled in response, keeping his curiosity back from asking the young woman as to why she disliked the Goddesses. He even gave Kei a look that basically said 'don't ask about it, just don't'.

With that firmly placed in her mind, the silver haired Oracle gave Enyo a polite nod as she walked past Mars and straight towards the meeting room, but before stepping into the room she looked back at the War Goddess and spoke. "I'll leave you two alone for the moment, but the others should be coming up here at some point, so keep an eye out for that. I also want to talk to you, if that is okay."

Enyo nodded, knowing what the Oracle was most likely going to talk to her about. "All right then, if you insist. Have fun waiting for the meeting to start."

The Oracle of Lastation let out a disgruntled huff and entered the room, closing the door behind her to leave room for privacy between Mars and Enyo. It was the young man who initiated the conversation. "So, what have you been up to for the last three weeks?" he asked, not even bothering to mention Ares' name in his question.

"Well, after you crushed Ares at the Planeptune Colosseum we were on the run for a while to escape the wrath of Project Ares, and especially this one guy who was watching over the fight," the blonde, shapeshifting woman began to explain, silently glad that she was able to get all of this off her chest. "His name is Laran, and he's the most blodothirtiest man you'll ever find in Project Ares. Not only is he Maximilian's right hand man, he's also the Director's grandson. Laran also has a battle companion that is supposedly even more… brutal than either him or Maximilian put together, not just in combat but also with, um… sexual things, forced or not."

This was not good news for the young man, in fact he was horrified that the man he hated most had a grandson that was undoubtedly just as savage as him, plus the news of a monsterous battle companion did little to ease his thoughts. Bearing that in mind, Mars continued on with asking questions, hoping to get some information out of the blonde woman. "I'll get to asking about the whole Project Ares things soon, so hold up 'till that. So where did you two go afterwards?"

"We headed northward towards Lowee and hid up there for around a week and a half, by that time we heard that you were missing and some stuff was going down with that tsundere Candidate. After a week and a half in Lowee we decided to head back to Planeptune, but that didn't last long, mainly because Ares hated all the meta jokes that the people over there made," the shapeshifting woman explained. "So we legged it all the way here to Lastation, and have been here ever since. We started living together while trying to cope with the world around us, which is a mixed blessing. I started working as a monster hunter in the Lastation Guild along with Ares whenever he wasn't working down at the scrapheap down south, he loves it there."

The young man seemed content to know that Enyo and Ares were starting to get used to Gamindustri proper and find a way to integrate themselves with hardly any suspicion, at least it sounded like that, but Mars decided to be optimistic about it for once. However, all this talk of Ares had made the Fire Dragon start to think about his younger half-brother, and he quickly did not want to, but unfortunately for him Enyo noticed the expression he was pulling and was quick to realise what was going on inside Mars' head.

"Don't worry about it, it is perfectly natural for someone to be concerned over a family member, no matter how much you may hate them, and vice versa come to think of it," the dark green eyed woman said, chuckling at the young man's expense. "Ares is doing fine, at least he is now. You smashed some sense into, literally. He's a lot more calmer than before, he has a bit more sense, not to mention that he looks out for me a lot more than before. But… he still has a cheeky side to him."

"So he keeps joking about asking you on a date and all that?" Mars asked, to which Enyo nodded and sighed depressingly. "If you like him so much then why not just say yes?"

"Because Ares is never serious whenever he jokingly asks me out and compliments my looks, mainly my breasts. Stupid perverted idiot. I'd be a lot happier if he was actually serious," the blonde woman grumbled in response, her cheeks blushing red while her gaze fell to the ground.

"Then why not just tell him then? Wouldn't that be easier than to just wait for that idiot half-brother of mine to confess first?" Mars asked, raising a valid point.

This only caused the shapeshifting War Goddess to blush even more with embarrassment, her face became bright red with the mere thought of confessing her feelings to the demented War God. "I-I-I can't do that! Th-That would be too embarrassing! Besides, Ares wouldn't take it seriously," she responded, rubbing her left arm nervously.

"Idiot," Mars mumbled, crossing his arms and shaking his head at Enyo, although he silently understood how it felt to be embarrassed about confessing one's feelings to someone, not that the young man would ever admit it at that point in time. After a few minutes of silence Mars decided to ask something else, something that had been bothering him ever since he had heard of the War Gods. "Where is Project Ares? What's it like there?"

Enyo sighed, making it rather obvious that Mars was not going to like the response. "Look, Mars, I already told you that I have no idea where it is, they have some sort of auto memory wiping machine or something on standby whenever we come and go. Although, I can tell you some bits of the place that I didn't say about before. There are a few separate divisions that oversee different sections of the Project, mainly equipment, teaching the children that get brainwashed there and generally cleaning up after a War God or War Goddess goes on a psychopathic rampage. Yeah, Last I was there the Anti-Crystals had made almost everyone there crazy, some more than others."

"How so?" Mars asked, trying to pry as much information from Enyo as possible while also attempting to keep the blonde haired woman's personal life out of it, all because he felt pity for what happened to her.

"Well, just think about what Ares was like in your duel with him, when the Anti-Crystal in him just took over. Remember all the Anti-Energy that just kept crackling from him? It was like that, and I'm sure that now the third most powerful War God in the Project and his battle companion, me, have gone missing, the whole population has gone ballistic and more savage than before," the shapeshifting woman replied, sighing soon afterwards.

"Huh? Third most powerful? Why would Ares be ranked like that? I don't want to give him any credit, but he's one tough son of a bitch," the Fire Dragon asked as he leaned up against the wall next to Enyo.

"Just because Ares was the star of the Project it doesn't mean that he is, or was, the most powerful of them all. Laran is the second most powerful War God and it's rumoured that his battle companion is the most powerful of them all, in fact some people who believe this mysterious person to be a female call 'her' a War Demoness. That just just shows you how powerful this person is," the dark green eyed woman responded. She then sighed and rubbed her face, mumbling to herself about how fucked her life was. She then looked back at Mars and swiftly realised that he could hear her. "Oh, s-sorry about all that, Mars. I just… I just want to live some resemblance of a normal live, but that's never going to happen. Hell, I have trouble keeping up with the taxes and paying thing. Me and Ares are going to get kicked out at some point."

"Then how about living in the Basilicom with me?" Mars suggested right out of the blue, much to Enyo's surprise, even the young man was shocked with himself with the suggestion. However, he never retracted his suggestion.

The blonde haired War Goddess broke out into an uncontrollable giggle, which lasted for a minute or two before she calmed herself down. "That's… unexpected of you, Mars. I guess you being in close proximity and dating a CPU Candidate isn't a completely bad thing after all, she's made you into a much nicer and more caring person. Well, if you really don't mind it, I'd like to live with you in that nice, fancy Basilicom. I'm sure Ares would-"

"No. No Ares allowed," the young man said in a childish manner, at least that was what it looked and sounded like to Enyo. But after a short moment where the young woman stared sternly at Mars, the Fire Dragon of Lastation caved in. "Oh all right then, he can live there as well, but you're looking after him, not me. Anyway, I better get this all cleared with Uni, Kei and Noire first, but I'm sure I'll convince them. I'll catch up with you tomorrow at the Guild with the news."

"I'm sure you will, but good luck anyway," the young woman responded, giving him a bright smile. She then suggested something that made the Fire Dragon a bit surprised at first. "Well then, in exchange for a place to live how about I teach you some more tricks with controlling your Anti-Energy without destroying your mind or soul? I still have some techniques to teach you."

The young, scruffy haired man hummed thoughtfully to himself, thinking the proposition over carefully. After a short moment Mars looked back at Enyo and nodded. "Okay then, I'm in; wouldn't mind becoming more powerful for when I find Maximilian. But I'll only let you teach me all that Anti-Energy power crap if Uni watches, she'll be interested in it either way."

"Fine then, but she better not interfere with the training regime tomorrow," Enyo sighed with a hint of annoyance, obviously not liking the idea of having the CPU Candidate of Lastation around to watch the training regime, but the blonde haired woman knew that if she wanted her and Ares to live in the Basilicom then they would have to get on to Uni and Noire's good side. "By the way, before those top shot business guys turn up I'll give you some advice with finding Project Ares. You should find someone called Anonydeath, a hacker according to the information I could find inside the Project when I was still there. I'm not sure how you could find him, but apparently he's interested in that hotheaded senior CPU, well, that's what the information said, and that's probably why he's on the Death List."

Mars grimaced as he thought over the highly important that Enyo had told him. _I should relay all of this to Pelagius, he could have some info about this Anonydeath guy that might prove useful. I'll do that when I have some free time later, or tomorrow if need be._ The young man thought as he began to smell and hear the business owners approaching. Once they were in sight Mars looked at them, and they looked at him with abject horror, quickly realising that the young man was with Kei. Their scheme to force Kei to sell her business had already failed. Mars grinned as he and Enyo walked into the meeting room, both knowing that it was not going to last long. _Well, let's get this over with._

* * *

The night sky was covering the land of Gamindustri as people began to go to bed, at least most people did anyway, the busy folks stubbornly refused to go to bed against the better wishes of their minds. One of these stubborn people was none other than Kei, who was busy signing away at some paperwork in her office in the Basilicom. The paperwork was all connected to her business, some of them were regarding the meeting that happened during the early afternoon. The silver haired Oracle chuckled to herself as she signed away at a payment form.

"Heh, those business people were definitely not expecting Mars to be there, it was great to see his eyes and body light up with all that Anti-Energy and scare the hell out of them. It was worth every moment," Kei chuckled as she finished off some more paperwork. After a couple of more minutes of signing away, Kei looked over to her right and gazed at the digital clock she had on her desk, it read 10:53 pm. "Is it that late already? Bugger, everyone is in bed now, or at least they should be."

With that running through the Oracle's mind, it was a great shock to her when she heard her phone start vibrating in her pocket, indicating that someone had sent her a message. It was Mars. The message read:

 _Kei, I need to talk to you about something important. Meet me by the old firing range that's under Basilicom durasdiction outside the city, bring no one._

Kei stared at the message with narrowed eyes, suspicious about what the young man wanted to urgently talk about. _Hmm… Well, I suppose it would not hurt to see what Mars wants. But why out there in the middle of nowhere? Sounds like serious business to me._ The blue eyed woman thought as she stood up and left her office, readying herself for whatever Mars wanted to talk about.

Upon arriving at the designated location Kei got out of her car, locked it and walked on through the deserted firing range, which was the same place that Uni and Mars liked to visit for some target practice every now and then. The young, brown haired man was standing nearby with his back to Kei, his arms were crossed and he was staring up at the night sky without uttering a single noise. As the Lastationite Oracle got closer to the young man, his head partially turned around and words came forth from him. "Sorry about the secrecy to all this, that and the location, I just want to get something of my chest, so to speak," Mars explained as best he could.

"And what is it that is troubling you, Mars?" Kei asked, wondering whether she even wanted to know the answer to that question at all.

"I want to know why you aren't human. What species are you, Kei?" Mars responded as he turned around, staring sternly at the silver haired Oracle.

The silver haired woman glared at the young man, gripping her wrist tightly in a fit of anger. "I don't know what you're talking about, but leave it alone, or else."

"Well then, if you won't talk then I'll just have to make you," Mars growled in his dragon way before his eyes and body lit up with Anti-Energy, his right arm crackled to life and the Anti-Energy buzzing around it was thrown directly at Kei, scarring the ground around her as she rolled out of the way. Several more volleys came soon afterwards, each one of them missed the Oracle, almost deliberately it seemed at first glance. However, the young man swiftly grabbed his sniper rifle nad let out an almighty growl as he used a Skill attack. " **Blood Shot!** "

The blood red beam burst forth from the barrel of the sniper rifle, whizzed past the Oracle's right cheek and smash into the wall behind her, exploding with an unnatural crackle of unholy energy. The wall behind Kei exploded and collapsed around and onto her in several piles of stone and brick, dust and dirt floated into the air as the battlefield became suspiciously silent. Suddenly there was a steel grey light shining from the rubble that had partially buried Kei, Mars grinned as he threw his sniper rifle aside and grabbed hold of his two waraxes. The rubble was shattered as Kei stepped back onto her feet, flexing her fists with the intent to fight.

That was when Mars heard the Lastationite Oracle growl in a nonhuman manner as the dust settled around them, revealing something that the young man was surprised to see. The right side of Kei's body was covered in steel-like scales; the right sleeve was torn around her upper arm to reveal a dragon mark; her left eyes was now bright blue with a thin, dark grey pupil with small, steel grey veins shooting out from the pupil; a grey-steel tail suddenly appeared along with steel-grey and black wings appearing out of her back' even her teeth were more sharper than before, just like a dragon. The Oracle of Lastation glared at Mars as a grey coloured energy began to appear, similar to Mars' dragon fire.

"You wanted to know what I was, well now you know what I am, Mars. I'm a Dragon, a Half-Dragon just like you, and I hate it," Kei informed the young man with a harsh tone, it was as if her personality had taken a complete turn for the worse now that Mars had aggravated her. Suddenly she leapt forward at Mars as a black and grey coloured mechanised longsword materialised into her right hand, which she used to swipe downwards at Mars with brute force, sending sparks of steel and energy flying from each other's weapons.

Mars grinned in his usual unnatural way at Kei as he forced her back before smashing his axes into the ground, creating fissures with Anti-Energy bursting forth from them. The red energy crashed into Kei and sent her crashing into the wall yet again, except this time she swiftly burst herself out of it and flew straight towards the young man, swiping her mechanised blade at his face. The Fire Dragon ducked towards his right and swept at the silver haired woman, bashing his Anti-Energy encased arm across her head. The Oracle skidded across the grassy field and rolled to a stop, the impact of Mars' arm, the Anti-Energy and constant skidding had torn her clothes slightly and made several scratches all over her face. Kei saw the sight of her own blood and squirmed, but this only made her more enraged.

With a swiftness that any hunter would have admired, Kei quickly got back onto her feet and unleashed her first dragon Skill attack, and it was the first she had ever used it as well. " **Iron Roar!** "

The steel-grey beam of energy - for it was not like Mars' fire - hit the young man directly in the chest, hurdling him into the wall of what was once some sort communications room. As Kei's anger began to subside and the horror of what she had down dawned on her, the recently made rubble blasted apart as Mars stepped out back onto the field, this time in his incomplete Dragon Force form, a mix of Anti-Energy on the right side of his body and Dragon Fire on the left side of his body were visible and rather frightening for Kei to see. The young man stared at the Oracle with narrowed yet curious eyes. "So you're an Iron Dragon. Heh, makes sense I suppose, being a business owner with a small factory and all."

Kei, the Iron Dragon of Lastation, nodded, although her expression was far from pleased. "I am, and I still hate it. I never asked to be like this, all I wanted to be was human, just like my mother. My father was the dragon who fashioned that Dragonite Ore stone Lady Uni gave you. I suppose she told you that I had no care for items such as that, well, that partially true. I only sold it to Lady Noire because I did not want to remember my father. I despise him for running away, leaving my mother to raise me when I was still just a kid. If I do see him again then I'll do what I'm about to do to you."

With that said, Kei lunged forward and yelled in some dragon war cry as she launched several punches at Mars, who counted them with his own. The two kept sidestepping each other while landing savage punches on one another, their claws slashed at each other, their tails crashed into whatever they could get to, their elemental dragon magic continued to envelope them, powering them to greater savagery and damage. At some point in the duel, the silver haired Oracle swept her tail against Mars' gut, giving her an open invitation for a full on attack.

" **Iron Slash!** " Kei exclaimed as her steel-grey encased claws on her right hand struck Mars across the face with the force of a boxer's strongest punch with added bonus of sharp claws, shredding parts of the young man's face. The Oracle watched the Anti-Energy repair the Fire Dragon's wounds as he bounced about across the ground, skidding to a stop by the steel wire gate that acted as the entrance to the range. "Had enough yet, Mars?"

"Hardly, Kei," Mars growled as he got back onto his feet, his battle hardened gaze directed towards her as the Anti-Energy finished healing his wounds. Suddenly Mars leaned back, his cheeks swelled up and fire began to flow around his mouth. A second later he lunged his head forward as Dragon Fire burst forth in a fiery explosion of red flame. " **Fire Roar!** "

" **Iron Roar!** " the Iron Dragon responded in kind. The two Dragon Skill attacks, Fire Roar and Iron Roar, collided together in a mix of a fiery and iron-like explosion, resulting in a bunch of smoke covering the area while a crater had formed underneath where the two destructive attacks had exploded upon contact.

The shockwave that was caused by what happened shook Kei to the ground, when suddenly she saw a red scaled hand with sharp claws in front of her. Mars was offering a hand to help her up onto her feet. The Oracle accepted it and got back onto her feet, yet the feeling of Mars' hand send a shiver up her arm and through her spine, but it was an odd feeling that she did not completely mind, even if it did feel embarrassing. With that in the back of her mind, the Half-Dragon Oracle decided to ask Mars something that had been bothering her ever since they started to have their short yet exhilarating duel.

"Would you mind explaining why deciding to fight me was a good idea to get me to answer you damnable questions about what I am?" Kei asked, noticing how her Dragon Force half form had not yet disappeared.

"Because simply asking you and negotiating a deal didn't work, if you remember," the Fire Dragon of Lastation responded as he cracked his neck, sighing with relief soon afterwards. "Does it feel good to finally get it off your chest?"

Kei glanced away for a moment, deep in thought about it, but eventually she did nod, although it was rather unenthusiastic. "I suppose it does, though I am still uncomfortable with you knowing about it. It's not as if I would be ridiculed for it, since everybody knows that you are a Half-Dragon, but for me it is just… personal. Though I guess it is nice to have a fellow Half-Dragon as a friend, especially one that has had a rough life, it just makes one appreciate what they have got. So, um… I know I don't really show a lot of emotion and I never seem to be appreciative a lot of the time, but th-thank you, Mars, for what you have done for me, for Lady Noire, and especially Lady Uni."

What shocked the young man was when he saw Kei blush, not even the steel dragon scales on the right side of her face could hide it from his gaze. It was rare to see such embarrassment in Kei's expression, in fact he presumed it was the first time that the Oracle had even blushed before. It made Mars have a hard time trying to find the right words to say, considering what he heard and what was in front of him. _Huh, Kei's pretty cute when she's embarrassed like this. I like it. I'm just glad Uni can't hear me think this, otherwise she would wack me on the head with the barrel of her HDD energy blaster weapon. Still, no one can beat an embarrassed Uni, I just love how she gets all flustered. That's one of many reason why I love that adorable CPU Candidate._

"Well, your welcome, Kei. It's nice to have a Half-Dragon friend who isn't my half-brother and isn't a bloodthirsty maniac," the scruffy, brown haired man finally responded, rubbing the back of his neck. He honestly considered Kei a friend, yet he never voiced that thought until now, and it made the silver haired Iron Dragon overly pleased to know that. Suddenly a thought came to him. "Say, if you're a member of the Dragon Clan, are the other Oracles also members of the Great Clans?"

Kei chuckled with some amusement as she lifted up into the air, her arms crossed and a rare cheeky grin had formed on her face. "That is for you to find out, Mars. Just be careful asking that with Chika. Anyway, let's head back to the Basilicom, might as well fly there since our… whatever these forms are have yet to go away."

"It's called Dragon Force, and yes, let's fly back there," Mars responded as he and Kei flew up into that night sky and headed back towards the Basilicom, both content with what had happened between them. For the young man it felt as if he had increased his friendship with Kei, which was something that he thought was impossible for any living being. Knowing that Kei was a Half-Dragon like him was a treat, but her also being an Iron Dragon had increased his interest in dragon history.

As they neared the Lastation Basilicom, all that Mars could think about were two things: Project Ares and the other Oracles. _I wonder if the CPUs are even aware that their Oracles could possibly be members of a Great or Lesser Clan, would be interesting to find out. I also need to find this Anonydeath person as soon as possible, will need to call Pelagius tomorrow morning before heading to the Guild to see Enyo again. Maximilian - your, your grandson, his apparently deranged battle companion and the Project's days are numbering._

* * *

 **A/N: It's been a while since I updated this story, I'm glad I got back to it. Yeah, the chapter is basically a Mars and Kei based chapter, thought it would be good to have one for the story. Yes, Kei is indeed a Half-Dragon just like Mars, and an iron one at that, except she's less powerful and doesn't completely like it at all. As for the possibility that the other Oracles, Chika and Mina respectively, are members of a Great or Lesser Clan, I'll leave that to your imagination for the moment. Have fun with those thoughts. Within the next two weeks I'll be heading back to university and will have to focus some more effort into that, but I promise that I will be trying my best to write up chapters ever now and then. Speaking of future updates, the next chapter of Subject 13: Mars should be out a lot sooner than the time it took to write this chapter, but there is no specific time, maybe three to two weeks. If you have suggestions, ideas, some stuff to say, or even art (yes, I'm looking for some art, been trying to draw some for a while for future arc stuff) please do inform me, and have a good day if possible.  
**


	30. Am I a Good Man?

**Chapter 29: Am I a Good Man?**

* * *

 **A/N: Warning, there is a little bit of sexual content somewhere near the end of the chapter, you'll know it when you see it. Also, sorry for the very long chapter, but I just don't know when to stop writing sometimes. I may need some advice concerning that, actually, I** _ **need**_ **advice about word limits** **.**

* * *

A new day had risen, and with it new problems. It was sometime after breakfast when Mars entered Uni's room, asking if he could talk to her for a moment about something important that she needed to hear. With her curiosity heightened Uni agreed once she had finished fixing up an energy weapon barrel that had seemingly been almost burnt to a crips from overheating during one of her self training regimes. That was when Mars told Uni about Enyo and Ares as well as the situation about them from yesterday.

"What did you say, Mars?!" Uni demanded in a furiated tone, her arms were crossed while her gaze was directed at Mars, who was standing in front of her with a mixed expression. "Why the hell would you invite the enemy to live here?!"

"They aren't the enemy, well, Enyo isn't at least, but she says that my demented half-brother is a changed person or something like that. They'll be fine here, at least Enyo will anyway," Mars responded calmly in an attempt to reason with the fiery tempered CPU Candidate.

"B-But they are the enemy!" Uni exclaimed furiously. To her it seemed as if Mars had already forgotten all the trouble that Ares and Enyo had caused over the last few months, especially with all the drama and destruction in the Planeptune Colosseum; the place was still being repaired. However, the young man appeared to be unwaveringly firm in his decision to bring their two most bitter former enemies back to the Basilicom. "You… Why do you even care about them anyway, Mars? It isn't like you to care about anyone or anything that isn't me, my sister or all of our friends."

The scruffy haired man sighed and rubbed the back of his neck, his tone of voice changing from firm to an uncertain or nervous tone, as if he was unsure whether to even to tell Uni about it at all. Soon enough, though, he did. "Well, how to put it… You see, Ares is my half-brother while Enyo is actually a childhood friend. I had my memories wiped clean by Project Mars, that's why I couldn't remember them."

"Your… half-brother? Ares, that mangy piece of filth, is your half-brother? And that women I almost shot in the head after she tried to kill me and Nepgear is your childhood friend? Wh-What?" was all Uni could say as her brain felt completely drained and fried from the news. "That's just… what? I don't really know what to say other than I'm sorry."

"Sorry because Ares if my half-brother?" Mars asked Uni, who nodded sadly. "Yeah, I know how you feel, really I do. Look, I only invited Enyo to live here, she's bringing Ares with her because she loves him and has to look out for that piece of crap. Besides, she offered me some lessons in harnessing my Anti-Energy to make it more efficient, so I am controlling it, not it controlling me. I have no reason to go against such an offer."

The CPU Candidate of Lastation was far from pleased, in fact she was highly suspicious about what was going on with Enyo and Ares now that the Fire Dragon had informed her about their situation. Not to mention that it seemed that there was more to yesterday than meets the eye, considering how well Mars and Kei were getting along, as if there was some sort of new friendship between them. "Ugh. Well, if you insist on meeting them then I'm coming with you, j-just so I can keep an eye on you is all."

Mars chuckled out of affection towards Uni's reason for wanting to come along with him. "Well I told Enyo that I would only go and meet with her if you came along as well," Mars informed the raven haired Candidate, who sighed with relief in response. "I guess that settles it then. I'll grab a few things before we head off to the Guild; fly or walk, your choice."

"I can fly you there if you want, been a while since I was in HDD and flew around the place. Although taking a walk wouldn't be a bad idea, had a big breakfast this morning thanks to you overcooking. Again." Uni responded as she nodded, agreeing to the idea while also criticising the young man's cooking habit. As soon as Mars nodded back and was about to leave her room, the CPU Candidate's expression became nervous as her cheeks reddened while her fingers twitched around, her gaze fell to the ground below her. "Um… M-Mars, c-c-can I just, um... "

The young man quickly realised what Uni was going to say and what she wanted to do, so he quickly decided to take the initiative by doing the deed for her. Mars walked up to the stuttering and embarrassed Candidate of Lastation, gently took hold of her upper arms and leaned his head forward to her until their lips met, ending Uni's stuttering. It was only a light kiss and lasted a few seconds, yet the result was just as expected: both seemed embarrassed yet also content and happy with what had happened. Once they both withdrew from the kiss they took a step back and could not help but chuckle at one another.

"Well, I'll go and get what I need, then I'll catch up with you out by the balcony we like to star gaze at. See you there," the Fire Dragon of Lastation informed Uni, who nodded in response as he left the room and entered the hallway outside. Along the way back to his room Mars stopped dead in his tracks as he felt several jolts of pain run through his chest, mainly around where his heart was located. It had been a while since the young man felt any sort of chest ache, at least a week or two at best. Only there was something bothering him now: the heartaches were steadily starting to become more common.

 _Ugh. Why… argh! Fuck, this hurts as much as being tortured by Maximilian! Okay, this is getting ridiculous, I shouldn't be having heart or chest aches this often. Maybe some exercise would do the trick. No, I already go out on Guild quests with Uni and sometimes Nepgear and Noire, so I get plenty of exercise as it is._ The scruffy haired man thought as he leaned up against the wall while clutching the area above his heart, grinding his teeth in agony as he attempted to calm himself down.

while pulling out his phone and dialed one of the few numbers on it.

After waiting for what seemed like a minute, someone answered. "Been a while, Mars," the person replied in a surprised tone. "You've been causing quite a commotion as of late around Gamindustri ever since that fight in the Planeptune Colosseum, I think you even might have made the people in Project Ares afraid of what's to come."

"Yeah, I figured that would happen eventually, Pelagius," Mars said to the runaway, crippled justiciar of the destroyed Project Mars. "Listen, I need some info. What do you know of Anonydeath?"

The question seemed to take the Toymaker of Lowee by surprise. "Anonydeath? Wow, I haven't heard of that name in over two years. Well, Anonydeath is many things, but his main passion is hacking, that is why Maximilian sought him out during the early years of Project Mars, just so he could cover their tracks. I've never met this guy in person, but I have heard a lot about him as well as what was written in the bio that Maximilian wrote. Turns out he had, and still might have, a romantic interest in Lady Black Heart for whatever reason. Not only that, but it was Anonydeath who erased all traces of Project Mars when you broke out and started killing everyone."

 _A romantic interest in Noire? Seriously? This guy must have a death wish then._ The scruffy haired man thought while shaking his head in disbelief. Putting that at the back of his mind, the young man continued on with the conversation. "So where can I find him?"

"Well that would be tricky, considering that he's been off the radar ever since Project Mars, well, at least for me. However, I have a few cases where he may have been spotted, one of the latest ones is in Lastation itself. That would be your best bet," the Toymaker explained, grunting with pain along the way.

"All right then, that'll have to do for now. Keep me updated if you find anything," Mars said, wishing to finish the conversation quickly before getting some of his gear from his bedroom. But Pelagius the Toymaker was not yet done.

"So, what's it like dating a CPU Candidate?" the crippled yet pleasantly polite and cheery man asked, obviously curious as to what was going on between Mars and Uni. "Tongues have been wagging all of the place up here, I even heard that a journalist for a self written newspaper was going to try and interview you and Lady Black Sister."

"An interview? What? Sod that, I ain't going to be interviewed by anyone," Mars exclaimed with obvious distaste, he even shook his head. "I gotta go now, so stop trying to talk to me, unless you have some more information that I need."

"No, nothing around here that could help you I'm afraid. Well, good luck in finding Anonydeath. Who knows, maybe he will find you first, he probably has a good reason to find you knowing him," Pelagius said in response, giving Mars a hint that there was more to the current situation than meets the eye, if there was one that is. The phone then went dead as the Toymaker ended the call, no doubt to get on with wheeling himself over to his workshop for the latest brand of toys. With that conversation now ended Mars continued walking towards his room, ready to prepare himself for the day. If the Fire Dragon knew what pain he would go through he would not have dared left the Basilicom.

* * *

"Maybe it would have been better to fly instead," Mars grumbled to Uni as they both walked side by side down the street, doing their best to ignore the obvious stares of bewildered and excited people, who were taking the sight of the couple being together quite well, in fact some people were pointing at the two of them while whispering to each other.

Many people throughout the city, and all of Gamindustri, had heard the rumour that Mars and Uni were dating. It had not been proven of course, but rumours spread fast when it concerns people of such standing and popularity, and Mars and Uni were really popular with the people of Lastation. It was something that the CPU Candidate was embarrassed with yet she managed to deal with some aspects of it, Mars was less used to it and had no desire to be a part of it. It was definitely going to be a hard time for the young man, considering everything he had done that inadvertently made him highly recognised, feared and very well respected.

After turning down a corner Mars continued to glance around only to see people waving and smiling at him, which only made the Fire Dragon feel uncomfortable with the whole ordeal. "Ugh, this is just too weird for me," Mars continued to complain while trying his best to not let everyone hear what he was saying.

"Oh grow up already and get used to it, you live with goddesses and have them for friends," the raven haired Candidate pointed out clearly while looking at him with a stern gaze. "I thought you would have gotten used to it by now."

"Oh shut up," the young man responded with an elbow nudge, resulting in the Candidate to chuckle with amusement.

It was not long afterwards that the two of them were set upon by a most random person: a woman with long, blonde hair tied up with a red ribbon at the back with bangs coming down her forehead, her eyes were green and her skin fair. She was wearing a short, sleeveless black top with a white lower area and blue stripes somewhat similar to a diamond shape. The top was leaving her lower body bare The collar was accompanied by a checkered red tie, covering the majority of her arms were black detached sleeves and fingerless gloves with a frilly white accessory with two blue stripes on the top of the sleeves.

The strange woman was also wearing white short shorts with a blue stripe, styled similarly to her top and the accessory on her arms. She also had a red-white belt with black center and a white, vector line. Her footwear consists of long, black boots decorated with a red band and a white, blue stripe ribbon similarly styled to her formerly mentioned garments. Underneath her boots seem to be white stockings of a sort that reached up to her upper legs. In her right hand she held a strange, stuffed animal.

"Hey! You're Mars and Lady Uni, right?" she asked, taking a moment to catch her breath, making it obvious that she had been running for some time. After both Mars and Uni nodded while being a bit hesitant about it, she seemed rather relieved and overly glad. "Good, that's really good. I guessed it was the two of you from a distance, but I had to make sure."

The young man raised an eyebrow at the remark, finding no comfort from it at all. "Uh, why were you looking for us in the first place? If it has something to do with business companies wanting me to be their back up for corporate takeovers then forget it, I'm already under contract regarding that."

"Really? With who? Tell me already," Uni asked, surprised to hear what Mars had to say.

"Kei. Who else would it be?" the Fire Dragon responded as if the CPU Candidate would have already guessed it to begin with.

"Um, have you two have finished arguing yet? Because I want to ask one quick question?" the strange, cheerful woman asked with a nervous smile, chuckling soon after as she rubbed the back of her head.

The brown haired man glanced back over at the strange woman, sighed deeply and decided to put up with her for now. "Whatever you want. Now, who the hell are you and what do you want?"

The blonde haired woman grinned victoriously and stood up straight, her arms now crossed across her chest while her stuffed toy was attached to her belt. "I'm glad you asked. The name is Dengekiko, I'm a reporter for my very own self published magazine, Dengeki News. Maybe you've heard of it before?"

Much to her surprise, Mars and Uni shook their heads. "Nah, haven't heard of it before," the young man said dismissively. "Anyway, what do you want with us?"

"An interview of course, mainly with Mars," came the reply. It was a response that Mars was not looking forward to and had hoped to never hear at all. His depressed expression was enough of an answer. "I take it you're not into interviews then?"

The Fire Dragon shook his head with utter distaste. "Of course not. I understand that it's the nature and duty of a journalist to write down stuff and publish it in a newspaper, but I can't handle all the snooping around they do, it just annoys me."

Dengekiko seemed a little disappointed with the young man's opinion of reporters and journalists, but she decided to put it behind her so she could interview the infamous Fire Dragon of Lastation and Lady Black Sister herself. "Well then, I'll try and not take up too much of your time then, and I'll see if I can stay away from too many personal questions. So, how about that interview? You two up for it?"

"Hey! Wait up there!" another nearby voice called out from across the street, for some reason the voice of the newcomer made Dengekiko sigh in annoyance. The loud newcomer was a pale-skinned girl with light green eyes, a short reddish-gold hair with a ponytail along with a crown accessory. Her outfit consisted of a top with red and blue details and six red buttons on the front, she has two long, orange colored striped sleeves on both arms with a large white gloves on her hands, there was also a blue skirt with a large red ribbon held up with suspenders. Her legs and feet were covered by long, white stockings and red and white shoes with crowns on the tongue.

Mars and Uni had seen weird clothes before, but this one took the cake. It looked like a clown without the makeup, at least to the young man anyway. Dengekiko, however, has not confused, only annoyed. As the strangely dressed young woman approached them the blonde haired journalist stared at them with a less than amused gaze. "Is there a reason why you are here, Famitsu?" she asked, finding it difficult to even speak to her politely.

"What do you think I'm here for? An interview of course," was Famitsu's reply. It made Mars and Uni sigh with disbelief while Dengekiko was even less amused, in fact she was rather grumpy. However, the oddly dressed woman was not yet done. "As for you, you were about to steal the golden piece of my article, weren't you? Don't lie to me, Dengekiko, I'm wise to your schemes."

"I'm pretty sure that _you_ were about to try and steal my interview, not the other way round. Besides, I got to Mars and Lady Uni first, therefore I get first dibs at it. Now clear off," the blonde haired woman retorted while attempting to shoo Famitsu away with her hands.

"No way! My magazine offers much more variety than yours, plus it's well edited and has a whole lot more readers than you could ever hope to achieve," came the prideful response, which only made the resentment between the two young women even more dangerous than before. It would have turned into a long and bitter argument with no clear winner if it had not been for Mars, who had an idea, much to his misfortune.

"Shut up, the both of you!" the young, scruffy brown haired man growled in his dragon-like tone, frightening the two reporters into submission. "Look, how about me and Uni here just get interviewed by the two of you over there in that cafe, okay? Oh, and you two better make it quick, we have things to do today."

Both Dengekiko and Famitsu apparently seemed to be quite fine with the idea of a duel interview, although everybody guessed that their articles would be very similar once it got into print a week or two later. With an approving nod from the two reporters, the group walked across the road and entered the cafe that Mars had pointed towards beforehand. The place was almost empty, save for an old man and woman in the corner and a woman behind the counter with a dishcloth. Mars and Uni sat side by side on a comfy red lounge next to a large window while the reporters sat in front of them on the other side of the white and grey table, their notebooks and pens at the ready.

"So then, to start things off I'll be asking a question that many people in the four nations have been pondering over ever since you came to their attention," Dengekiko began to explain as she gazed directly at the young man himself. "Your name to be specific. Why are you called Mars? I know that people in Gamindustri have rather odd names, but your name is just so bizarre that it's almost otherworldly. Is it actually your real name?"

"Uh, well, there's no real reason for that to be honest," Mars lied, though it seemed that Dengekiko and Famitsu bought it. "It's the name I chose for myself, and I intend to keep it."

"Why is that?" Famitsu asked, apparently having the same overall question in mind for her own separate article. "Why bother choosing a name for yourself when you already have a name to begin with? Is it embarrassing?"

Uni could tell that Mars was becoming uncomfortable with the constant questioning that was going on, though she silently mulled the question over with herself. _Why would Mars not want everyone knowing his name? It's not all that bad, in fact it has some meaning to it, being a Dragon name and all._ The CPU Candidate of Lastation reasoned to herself. However, her and the reporter's questions were soon answered.

"My real name does not matter, it never has as a matter of fact. I didn't even know about it up until a few days before my duel with Ares, but it still didn't matter to me at all, and I doubt it ever will," the brown haired Fire Dragon explained in a clear and decisive manner. "The name I chose has importance to me. My name, my _real_ name - that is not the point. The name I chose is Mars. The name you choose, is like... it's like a promise you make. That's the point of it all - my name is a promise."

"Then what is the promise you made?" Dengekiko asked while writing it all down in her notebook, which was what Famitsu was also doing as well.

Now Uni could feel the anguish, the trauma, the rage and the sadness build up inside the young man. The promise he made to the dead of Project Mars was one that would undoubtedly make everybody in Lastation, Planeptune, Lowee and Leanbox shiver with fright, gasp in shock and begin to distrust the young man. _No, they can never know what the promise is, and they must never know what Mars went through. Ever._ Uni thought to herself. She was ready to step into the interview just in case it got hazy for the now fidgety, first gen War God.

Fortunately, Mars did not break out into a fit of anger like he usually would do, instead he did his best to try and get around the issue as best he could, although it was clear to everyone that there was some sadness and resentment in his expression and in his words. "Well, it's just a promise that I can't say anything about - it's a secret," was what Mars responded with.

It was not entirely enough for the two reporters, but they soon gave in and failed to get a direct answer. They then silently decided to change the next several questions. "So then, where do you come from, Mars? Are you a born and bred Lastationite like many others around here, such as myself?" Dengekiko asked with a smile. "You seem serious enough to be one."

"Heh, funny. Noire said that I was more of a Planeptunian to her. But I guess I am a Lastationite through and through, been here long enough anyway," Mars respond, chuckling slightly when he heard the blonde haired reporter mention him being as serious as a common person from the Land of Black Regality.

"You could be both for all we know," Uni mentioned with a sideways glance and a cheeky grin.

Mars seemed to like the concept of that statement, in fact it was an idea that he had thought about over a month ago. "Well, you never know, do you?"

"Alright then, next question. Exactly how old are you, Mars?" Famitsu asked.

"Um… somewhere between eighteen and twenty-two last time I checked; I don't really know my proper age, it's difficult to tell if you have bad memory issues like me," the young man replied while scratching his head thoughtfully. The response only made Uni feel even more sad for him due to his involuntary memory loss.

"Huh, some serious issues of memory loss right there," the crown-wearing girl said in a curious tone while writing it all down.

"Don't ask about it, I have no idea why it's like that at all," Mars responded, lying once more to prevent the truth from being revealed. "Now then, what next? I'm an impatient man, and Uni here is just as bad."

"Hey! I have some patience, thank you very much," the raven haired Candidate snarked back while crossing her arms defiantly over her chest.

Mars scoffed at the idea, yet he also chuckled slightly with Uni's overall reaction as well, finding it funny that she took offense to the idea that she was impatient. The two rival reporters were also finding it rather funny, as was evident with their giggling. "Well, that brings up the next question that I know both of us want to ask, and that everybody in Gamindustri wants to know," Dengekiko chuckled, flipping over a page in her notebook. "So then, are you and Lady Uni here in a relationship? You know, like girlfriend and boyfriend? Everyone wants to know."

Both Mars and Uni blushed madly with embarrassment, their gazes directed somewhere else, mainly at the ground or the window next to them. It seemed like a good enough answer, but both reporters needed more for their articles. "Aww, look at the two of you. Blushing. You two _must_ be lovers. Just how deep is this relationship?" Famitsu asked with a cheeky wink.

"W-W-Well, um… er..." Uni stammered nervously with embarrassment, unable to find the right words. After a short moment of stuttering nervously in response to all of the stares, Uni crossed her arms and stared at the ground underneath her feet, her cheeks burning red.

"But you two are in a relationship, that's easy to tell. How did it start up? Also, what is the best thing, or favourite thing, you know about each other?" the clown-like young woman asked while writing all the information down alongside the blonde haired Lastationite.

Uni was still highly embarrassed about before and was unable to say anything, or move for that matter, making Mars rather concerned for her mental health - the CPU Candidate of Lastation had a history of having mental breakdowns, whether it is because of overworking or relationship matters. At any rate, it was left to the young man to answer the questions. "Um, well, our relationship started a couple of weeks ago during the middle of the night. The two of us were trying to confess our feelings yet failing utterly, when I just… um… k-kissed Uni out of the blue. Yeah, that's how it kinda started, though I guess we've been building up to that point for the last few months come to think of it. As for my favourite thing about her, er… I th-think it would have to be her p-p-personality - I just l-love it."

"Awww, that's so sweet," was Famitsu's response, even Dengekiko thought it was rather sweet and adorable to imagine, as was evident with the expression upon her face.

"Yeah, that's what all the Goddesses thought, well, nearly all of them anyway, Noire was a little bit uncomfortable with the idea of us going out together as boyfriend and girlfriend," Mars mentioned with a shake of the head. "I don't blame her to be honest, I'm not the best person around, morally and personality wise anyway, though that has been slowly improved thanks to Uni here."

"Really? What were you like before you met Uni?" Dengekiko asked with a raised eyebrow, once again curious about the young man's past.

The brown haired man was uncomfortable with the question, and rightly so, considering his past. The question and the Half-Dragon's discomfort was enough for Uni to get out of her state of nervousness and speak up. "I thought personal questions like that were not to be asked at all," the raven haired Candidate pointed out with a firm tone.

"Fine, fine, we'll leave our noses out of personal stuff life that, but it only makes people want to know more. What if Mars here is actually a rogue bandit? What if he's a cultist? A murderer and a thief perhaps? It only makes people, including us, want to know a whole lot more about him," the blonde haired woman said rather sternly, the cheerfulness that was once in her voice disappearing for a moment while speaking.

 _Well she isn't wrong about the murderer and thief part, but ain't gonna bloody mention that to her or the clown._ Mars thought grimly to himself, his eyes glaring at the two reporters before him while Uni tried to reason with them.

In the end, both Famitsu and Dengekiko agreed to not ask any further personal questions such as before. Instead they decided to split their questions and aim them towards Uni and Mars. Famitsu asked the CPU Candidate of Lastation about her relationship with Mars while trying to not get too deep and personal about it, meanwhile Dengekiko was asking Mars about what he was doing during the time he went missing after the duel with Ares, then the two nosy reporters swapped and asked the opposite person different yet also similar questions. It was quite tiring for both Mars and Uni, who had been promised that the interview would not take too long.

"So then, what's it like living with Mars? Difficult, or interesting?" Famitsu asked with interest while continuing to write everything down.

"It's tiring, that's for sure, but I like it. I-I-I mean, it's i-i-interesting t-to see y-you know," Uni stuttered, fiddling her fingers about nervously while she had her common 'tsundere stutter attack' as Mars would put it.

While Famitsu chuckled in amusement to Uni's reaction, Dengekiko was in the middle of asking Mars yet another question that she wanted in her article. "Hmm… let's get another question out of the way now, an important one. Your species. Are you a human, or are you just some sort of humanoid dragon?"

It was a question that Mars had been expecting for a while now, and it was one that he had no real problem with answering. "Ah, not a bad question, not bad at all; I have no bloody doubt people are damn confused."

"You're swearing again. Actually, why do you swear at all? It's like it isn't profane to you or something at all. I don't think it would be appropriate around younger people at all - no, no, no, not appropriate at all," Famitsu interjected, asking something that many people that knew Mars wanted to understand.

Mars simply shrugged, unsure about why he swore all the time. "No clue, though I'm not gonna bloody stop it, that's for sure."

"Then I'll make you stop it, Mars," Uni firmly spoke as she stared at the young man, the authoritative part of her personality starting to kick in. "We'll talk more about it once we get back to the Basilicom. Actually no, we'll talk about it on the way to the Guild."

"You're not my mother," the Fire Dragon of Lastation grumbled, his expression turning sour.

The raven haired Candidate grumbled to herself for a moment before speaking her mind, it looked as if she had seemingly forgotten that there were other people around the place, more specifically in front of them."No, but I'm your g-girlfriend, so I have a say in how you behave in public. J-Just do th-th-is for me, o-o-okay?" Then she remembered that there were other people looking at her, which only caused the unfortunate and rather shy yet proud CPU Candidate to fiddle about with her fingers while her face burned bright red.

Mars sighed and gently held onto Uni's hand under the table, causing her to start calming down ever so slightly. It was something that the young man had to do quite regularly whenever the shyly proud CPU Candidate ever got too embarrassed or braindead from whatever was making her too shocked. Many people found this simple act of affection from the tough and grumbling Mars to be cute, that and Uni's response to it, which she simply smiled sweetly back while holding his hand tightly while the other hand relaxes. Dengekiko and Famitsu, too, found it cute to witness.

"Hehehe. You two are pretty cute together, it's just too adorable," Dengekiko chuckled, much to Mars and Uni's embarrassment. However, after a few more seconds of giggling in amusement, both reporters were calm enough to continue asking a few more questions, especially the last question about what species Mars was. "So, back to the topic. Your species, what exactly is it? Oh, as for you, Lady Uni, if Mars isn't a human, how do you feel about dating someone who many could consider a monster?"

Before Mars could even growl in anger and strike fear into the reporters' as bad memories of being associated as a 'monster', the raven haired CPU Candidate raised her voice and spoke her mind, defending the young man defiantly. "He isn't a monster, he's my boyfriend! I don't care if he isn't human, because I know that he isn't, and I'll be damned if anyone labels him as some mindless monster!"

Everyone else at the table was incredibly shocked with Uni's choice of words, that and her tone as well. Mars himself was the most shocked of all, but he was also the most impressed by it. After a short moment of silence, the Lastationite Candidate realised what had happened, blushed madly once again and sat back down in her seat, only to smile when Mars wrapped an arm around her to comfort her. "Well, she's right. I'm not human, at least not entirely human anyway. I'm a Half-Dragon," Mars explained while continuing to calm Uni's nerves. "And a War God, come to think of it."

"Huh, a Half-Dragon War God, that's unusual. Never knew an Ancient Dragon could mate with a human to produce someone like you," the blonde Lastationite reporter mumbled thoughtfully, getting it all so wrong.

"No, no it isn't like that at all, not at all," Mars grumbled while shaking his head. "I come from an old clan that can shapeshift into a humanoid dragon form. It has nothing to do with those Ancient Dragons."

"Oh, well that's good to know, was confused there for a second," Famitsu responded, chuckling it off. "Well, I think we better wrap this all up and head of soon. So, just one more thing for my article, I want you to make a statement to the people of Gamindustri. It can be anything, but preferably nice. Have anything in mind?"

The young man thought about some sort of statement for a short moment, yet he found it hard to come up with anything. That was until he thought about everything he had been through for his entire life, and the experiences that came after meeting Uni, Noire, Kei, Nepgear and everybody else. Then he spoke. "Never be cruel, never be cowardly, and never, _ever_ eat pears! Remember, hate is always foolish, and love is always wise. Always try to be nice, but never fail to be kind. Laugh hard. Run fast. Be kind."

"Wow. That's… pretty cool. I never thought you would say something like that," Famitsu said, seemingly pleased with what she had gotten out of the young man.

Dengekiko glared in her rival's direction, not liking the fact that Famitsu had thought of something that got Mars to speak out towards the readers. So in return, the blonde woman decided to do something similar, yet also different that she hoped would express the Half-Dragon towards the readers in a far more interesting way. "Alrighty then, let's end this with a question. I want you to ask the readers a question, a really important question. What do you want to ask them?"

It felt like a tough one for the scruffy haired man, and Uni could even tell by the way Mars had his expression. Eventually he came up with a question, a question that he had been asking himself for a long time now. "Am I a good man?" was what Mars chose to ask.

"Are you a good man? Well, I'm sure the readers will decide whether you are or not, although you seem pretty good enough," Dengekiko said in response, writing the last of her notes down. Afterwards she sighed and stood up, ending the interview. "Well, I better head off now and get my article ready for publication in a few days. It's been great talking with you, Mars and Uni. See you around, hopefully."

"Same here. See ya later, Mars and Uni," Famitsu said as she too stood up and left with Dengekiko, both waving 'goodbye' to the couple.

Once the reporters were gone and back out onto the street, no doubt heading back to their business location to get started on their articles, Mars slipped his arm away from Uni and looked over at her, noticing that she had calmed down sufficiently enough to hold a reasonable conversation. "You feeling a bit better after all that?" the Half-Dragon asked.

Uni nodded. "Y-Yeah, I'm feeling better, thanks for asking, Mars. So then, should we head off? Your 'friends' are probably waiting for us outside the Guild by now, while I do want to keep them waiting and not want to see them, I know that you're going to go there anyway."

"I know, but try to keep all your frustration towards them pent up, use it for later when we play some Call of Duty: Nep Warfare," Mars sighed, knowing that the rest of the day was going to be even more difficult than he had originally thought it would - although he knew that having to put up with his half brother Ares was going to be a challenge. "Well then, should we get moving? You'd like Enyo, she's pretty cool once you get to know her, although she doesn't like CPUs all that much, so be careful."

The raven haired CPU Candidate sighed, stood up and looked back at the young man. "Fine then, if you insist, but I can't just get on well with someone who doesn't like us CPUs for no reason. Then there's your younger half brother, Ares. I… I absolutely and utterly _hate_ him. He almost killed me with his Anti-Energy when I screwed up a bit during our duel."

"Yeah, I know. Trust me, I hate him as much as you do, and I really want to tear the life out of him," Mars sympathised, understanding how Uni was feeling about the situation. "But I'm being forced by Enyo to put up with Ares, only because she loves him, and ever since the duel back at the Colosseum her love for that piece of filth has only grown even more. Anyway, want to head off now?"

Uni nodded as Mars stood up and pushed his chair in underneath the table. "Okay then, let's get going." As the two left the cafe and walked down the street in the general direction of the Guild, the raven haired CPU Candidate turned her head to look at Mars, her expression becoming quite serious. "All right. You and swearing. Stop it already, it's just not polite to swear constantly. I understand that you have been on your own for a while before you met me, and let's not forget everything before that, but what happens if young people start to copy you? What if Rom and Ram start to swear constantly because of you?"

Mars simply shrugged. "Who cares? They're going to start swearing their heads off eventually because of Blanc, so it doesn't matter."

"You're an idiot, but a l-l-lovable idiot," Uni giggled to herself, forgetting that the young man had excellent hearing due to his dragon senses. As they neared the Guild Uni thought about what had happened back in the cafe, her thoughts were centering around something Mars had said at the end of the interview. "Hey, what you asked for Dengekiko's article readers, were you asking a serious question?"

Much to her surprise, the Fire Dragon nodded. "Yeah, I was being serious. Uni, am I a good man? Just… just tell me an honest answer, please. I want to know - no, I need to know. I know that I have killed people before, many people to be exact, but I've definitely changed after meeting you, and that has been a good thing. Look at me now, I'm a better person. Hell, I don't even stir my tea or coffee with my toothbrush or a nearby pencil anymore. Am I a good man, Uni?"

It was a difficult question for Uni to answer, considering that she had been told everything that Mars had done throughout the life he could remember, all of it from the mouth of the man himself. In the end, as they drew closer to the Guild, the CPU Candidate decided to give a vague answer. "Um… It's kind of difficult to answer that, Mars. I'll give you one another time."

The Half-Dragon nodded understandingly, knowing the troubles of trying to give an answer to such a question that involved such a complex person as himself. "Right, okay then. A question for another time." It was then that he saw who they were looking for, and he had mixed feelings when seeing them. "They're here."

"Yeah, I can see that," Uni whispered back, her eyes glaring suspiciously at the grey haired, dark blue coated man who stood with his back up against the outside wall of the Guild.

As Uni and Mars got closer, Enyo - who was standing nearby - smiled at the young man and walked over to him, although she flinched back a bit upon seeing Uni's unfriendly glare. "Well, it's good to see that you can still stick by your word - you always were good at doing that when we were childhood friends," the blonde haired shapeshifter said, doing her best to ignore the CPU Candidate's unfriendly gaze.

"Hey, we're still childhood friends. After all, we're pretty friendly and all that," was how Mars responded. It made Uni grumble to herself, and partially to the young man as well, apparently she did not like the idea of Mars being friendly with any other woman than herself, then there was the matter of him and Enyo confirming that they were still childhood friends.

This, however, caught the attention of Ares, who had thrown his hood over his head for whatever reason. "Heh. You hating the fact that Subject 13 and Enyo are being all lovey-dovey? You should be. She actually finds him rather attractive."

This almost sent Uni over the edge. She growled in a savage tone, materialised her energy rifle and jammed it up against Ares' chin, her trigger finger ready to fire. But before either of them could make the situation worse, Mars and Enyo managed to stop it from turning into a bloodbath. "Hey! Stop that, Uni. I'm the only one who's allowed to kill that scumbag," Mars demanded in a stern tone.

"B-Besides, there's no reason to fight, not now at least," Enyo began to explain in her attempt to reason with Uni and Ares, who were still glaring at each other hatefully. "Look, I'm not lucky with friends, and Mars and Ares are the only friends I've ever had, and may be the only ones I will ever have. I can't help it that I'm fond of the people I know well, but I'm more fond towards Ares here than Mars."

This really seemed to confuse Ares, who completely ignored the raven haired Candidate and stared at the shapeshifting raven. "You're… more fond towards me? What for?"

Enyo stuttered about for a short moment, her cheeks blushing bright red with embarrassment, until she suddenly turned around and started to storm off down the street, bellowing to the others for them to follow her. Mars, Uni and Ares looked at each other, shrugged and followed after the highly nervous and embarrassed woman, who was going to help train Mars to properly harness his Anti-Energy into a dangerous weapon. As the group continued walking Uni and Ares kept arguing with each other, both swearing to finish off their duel at a later time. The Fire Dragon of Lastation sighed and shook his head, knowing that it was going to be a tough day.

* * *

As the day began to move into the evening, a series of events were taking place in a mysterious, unforgiving and unknown location in Gamindustri. Project Ares, the most dangerous organisation that Gamindustri has ever faced for many, many, many years, and hardly anyone even knew it existed, which only made it even more dangerous, and highly unpredictable for those rare few who knew of the Project's existence. However, there were only a few outside of Project Ares who actually knew about the shady organisation, and many of them were dead, killed off by either Mars - who had no knowledge of Project Ares at that time - or were slain by agents of Maximilian, Director of Project Ares.

No one knew where Project Ares was located, not even many members of the Project itself. Many of the test subjects who had been given the privilege of an actual status and a membership in the Project's ever growing army concluded that there was a memory eraser somewhere by the front entrance, if there was actually one in the first place - it was difficult enough to find the entrance in the first place, for no one knew where it was located.

At any rate, a series of events were occurring within the Project. One of these events was being held behind closed doors, the other was occurring within the Meeting Atrium, which was where all of the important meetings took place, whenever there was a reason for a meeting in the first place, for there had barely been any meetings at all over the last two years. The walls were of a grey colour while the floor was white, as were most of the furniture in the room as well. Just like everywhere else in the facility, there were no windows, only lights from the ceilings, although there were several lockers and unoccupied desks.

Maximilian, Director of Project Ares and former Director of the completely destroyed Project Mars, courtesy of Mars the War God and Maximilian himself. The oldish man, who was stroking his short beard thoughtfully without any hint of emotion, was sitting on a comfortable white chair by a large and wide table, his elbows were resting on the table surface while his eyes gazed at the various amount of reports that littered the table. He appeared to be in a less than savoury mood, and for a good reason as well. It was a meeting about the state of affairs within the different branches of the Project. It was, in effect, a directorate meeting between Maximilian and the Directorates of the subdivisions, and they were not overly impressed with the state of Project Ares.

"Director, this just cannot go on," one middle-aged woman said in a firm an unrelenting tone. The amount of expenses going into the machines, all those fancy robots, the weaponry, the guards' pay, the education of children we brought over from the orphanages and the test subjects is just emptying out everything we have. There just isn't enough money to spare."

"And let's not forget about the defeat and disappearance of the star of this Project, Ares himself. How humiliating," some business savvy man added in a mocking gesture, pen in one hand while the other hand was resting on several notes he brought along, just for the occasion.

But he was right, it was indeed humiliating for Maximilian to lose the star of the Project, even if Ares was only the third most powerful test subject in the facility. It made the old man wonder if he needed to 'create' another Ares, or simply rename one of his other test subjects with the warlike name. No matter what Maximilian thought of, he knew that his Project was slipping into the sewer. Low funds, low supplies, low morale, barely any Anti-Crystals left and the death toll was growing larger by the day. He was getting nowhere. It was time for Maximilian to step up the game and initiate a plan that had been on the backburner for a while now.

 _So it is time to initiate the plan. I thought it would not have come to this, not for another year or so, not until I had a larger fighting force of mad-driven and bloodthirsty War Gods and War Goddesses. I need more time, but with Ares and Enyo out there, undoubtedly aiding Subject 13 in his quest to find me, I need to strike first. And I know where to begin._ The white haired man thought cunningly, his guile coming full circle as he realised that the grand designs he had for Gamindustri had to be reworked yet again.

However, Maximilian was interrupted from his thoughts by another member of the four Directorates, a young-looking woman in a business suit along with a handgun attached to her belt. "So what do we do now? We have an army of insane War Gods and War Goddesses down in the lower levels, slaughtering each other over any sort of disagreement; hell, they even went after some of the guards who passed by. Then there's the issue with your grandson and his… battle companion."

Maximilian sighed, knowing full well where the conversation was going to be heading towards. "If you wish to pass judgement over Laran and his overly insane battle companion then remember this: I gave them power, most of it specified towards Laran himself. He is my right hand man, no matter what happens. Is that understood?"

The business woman shook her head defiantly, taking a stand towards what she believed to be an illegal act that stripped away the Directorates' powers. "Sir, if you really believe that your grandson is your right hand man then invest him in the position of a Directorate, that way his 'political' powers here in the Project are made manifest. However, _we_ are the soul body of Project Ares. You were the one to create the subdivisions that monitored and oversaw much of Project Ares. To give Laran power is to undermine what we have. Is that what you are intending to do?"

Much to the discomfort of the Directorates, especially the fourth member who had yet to speak, Maximilian chuckled in amusement to the woman's accusation and reminders while he stood up out of his seat. "You know, I do have to apologise for all the misgivings that I have thrown upon you and the other Directorates here, but you four have seem to taken it quite well."

"Oh, well, thank you for-" the woman was beginning to say, only to be cut off by Maximilian.

"Shut up. As I was saying, you four have done well, but times change" the Director finished explaining while adjusting his glasses. "Now hold on a moment while I give Laran a call, we need him and his battle companion for the next two assignments."

It did not take long for Maximilian to grab his phone out of his lab coat, turn his back to the Directorates, who were all very confused with what was going on, and give Laran a call. The sadistic War God answered it, but not in a way that either the Director or his subordinates were prepared for. What they heard was the slapping of flesh against flesh, the loud sexual moans of a young woman, grunts that sounded like Laran and what may have been a bed bouncing around with two people on it. What they heard next made nearly all of the men have a nosebleed attack. "Ooooooh~ Oh Laran~ You're completely destroying my pussy and ass!"

"Heh. Well, that's… what I do best… Veliza," Laran responded while continuing to pound into his battle companion, by the strange name of Veliza, knowing full well that they could be heard.

The moaning and grunting continued on, and Maximilian could only shake his head. Suddenly it sounded as if the end game was about to occur from the other side of the phone, judging from how excited the two seemed to be. "Heh, it's twitching, I can feel it. Your rod is throbbing with excitement," Veliza said in a sexy tone. "Release it. Release it all inside me~ I want it! AAHHHH~"

After a minute or so of waiting the sounds of wild, untamed and energetic sex was over, at least for a moment. "Mmmm, I can feel it deep in me. Heh, look at all that, it's all over the bed as well. You're going to get me pregnant one of these days," Veliza chuckled in amusement, much to Maximilian and the Directorates' shock.

"Hey, we've done this dozens of times, and you've done it a whole lot more without me, you sex crazed War Demoness, and it hasn't happened yet," Laran responded with a chuckle of his own, which only caused his battle companion to pout at him.

"Screw you, I don't have sex _all_ the time, only when I feel like it, thank you very much," was the reply that the sadistic War God received. "Hey, is that phone still one? Wow, you really want everyone to hear us do it together, huh? Would it make them feel better if I said that I was wearing my maid outfit while doing this?"

"No, it wouldn't, now stop your sexual shenanigans and listen to me for once," Maximilian finally spoke with a firm tone, making it clear that he had had enough. "I need the two of you down here for two assignments, now clean yourselves and get down here. Oh, and don't be smartasses and just come here naked, not again."

"Tch. Whatever," the two of them grumbled, ending the call. It did take a little while for Laran and Veliza to arrive in the Meeting Atrium, but when they did the Directorates were relieved to see them wearing non-revealing clothes, quite the opposite in fact. The sadistic War God was in his usual attire while Veliza now appeared more like a young man, clothes and all.

This quite confused the Director, naturally. "Why in Celestia's name are you dressed up like a man right after having sexual intercourse with my grandson? I understand that you usually do this whenever an assignment is given to you, but why dress up in your 'France Shellby' persona, War Demoness?"

"Why should it matter to you, old man? I don't need to answer to you," Veliza the War Demoness, now in her 'France Shellby persona', retorted harshly, making it clear that she hated answering to authority. "So what do you want? I was having a lot of fun."

"I can tell. Now, for the assignments. But first, a decree," Maximilian responded, ignoring Laran's battle companion's insubordinate tone. The old man then walked back over to his seat, placed his hands onto the table and gazed at the Directorates of Project Ares' subdivisions. "Directorates, by invoking my right as the founder and leader of this Project, I initiate Protocol 37 and immediately take emergency powers, granting me complete authoritative control over this facility."

This was big news to the Directorates, who were less than pleased with the decree. "But Director, you can't take emergency powers without our consent, and we refuse to play this game of yours," the business woman stated clearly without any hesitation.

However, this only seemed to please Maximilian, who had appeared to finally come to a conclusion. "I know, and that is where the first assignment comes into fruition," he said with a smile before looking over at Laran and 'France Shellby', as Veliza preferred to be called while wearing the red hooded jacket .long black pants and black boots. "The Directorates are 'fired'. Clean up the filth."

"With pleasure," the two bloodthirsty subjects of Project Ares responded, their eyes glowing blood red with Anti-Energy, as was their bodies. Then they struck. Laran let out an inhuman roar of delight as bloodlust as his hands and lower arms began to be covered in brown scales, his fingers turned into long claws, all aimed towards the four Directorates. The War Demoness, meanwhile, grinned wickedly, grabbed the gatling gun and unleashed hell for the four unfortunate men and women.

"Hehehehe… Hahahahaha… Ahahahahaha!" France broke out laughing in a crazed manner, never blinking as the bullets from her mighty weapon tore through a few of the Directorates while the sadistic War God ripped apart the others with his claws, chuckling in amusement due to how they screamed in pain and fear, unable to get away from their fate.

Seconds became minutes and still the sadists tore through the unfortunate, and dead, Directorates, spreading their blood and guts all over the place. All except one, the young man who was the fourth member of the Directorate, who was lying across the floor covered in blood, an arm held against the several bullet wounds that were located around his gut and chest, his breathing ragged. The slaughter seemed to have stopped, considering that the gatling gun had stopped firing and the swiping of claws and Anti-Energy were gone.

However, the man looked up to see France staring down at him, a wicked grin visible upon the bloodthirsty sadist's face. Before the last surviving Directorate could even beg for his life, the War Demoness raised a booted foot and brought it down savagely and swiftly upon the man's head, crushing it under her foot, sending brains and blood all over the floor while the skull shattered. "Ahhh, ecstasy~" France mumbled with a bright grin, licking some blood off her fingers. "Do you think so as well, Laran?"

"Nah, not into tasting blood, that and I don't get turned on by breaking bones," the sadistic War God responded while cleaning his hands, once it had returned to its human form. He then looked over at his grandfather, who was merely leaning up against an undamaged wall. "We're done with the first assignment now, I think. So what's the second one?"

Maximilian chuckled with the gore that Laran and France had created while walking over towards the two of them. "With Ares and Enyo missing, all thanks to you Laran, the situation has grown more serious. Those rogues could divulge information to Subject 13, if they have any information to give that is. However, during a raid on the outskirts of a Loweean town, we got something that highly concerns me. What I want the two of you to do is find this man and silence him once and for all; I cannot have any loose ends again."

Laran took from his grandfather a piece of paper with the mission details on it, after given it a close read the sadist handed it over to France, who seemed rather interested in it. "Heh, it shall be done, old man, just you wait and see what we get done," Laran declared in a prideful voice, which then turned into a sinister laugh.

* * *

 **A/N: Again, sorry for the very long chapter (I'll try to make it shorter next time), and for the long awaited update. Yes, I did say that it would take a few weeks, but it took a bit more longer than that, for that I am sorry. There wasn't as much gore as I wanted to put in, but the short sexual scene was short enough for me – don't know if there'll be more stuff like that in later chapters, but there may be a bit more, maybe though. Things have been pretty hazy with university, keep getting assignments that I always need to complete within a few days – very annoying.**

 **Anyway, thanks for reading the latest chapter, if you have any suggestions or advice then I'm all ears, or eyes I guess, and see you all next time, whenever I get the next chapter released.**


	31. Gamindustri's Resident Hacker

**Chapter 30: Gamindustri's Resident Hacker**

Darkness covered the land, the stars and the bright moon shone all over Gamindustri as two figures walked across the snow-clad land of Lowee, their destination was the capital city of the Land of White Serenity itself, their purpose was less than moral, or friendly for that matter. They trudged through the snow-clad fields, their boots leaving large imprints as they went on with their journey, their gazes were focused on the city that was approaching their visions as they got closer to it. One of the figures stopped and sat down on a fallen log amidst a sparse selection of trees, appearing to be a bit tired.

"Let's stop here for a while and get some rest before continuing on," the figure informed his companion before reaching into a backpack for something to the eat. He unslung the backpack off his back and onto the ground in front of him, he reached into it, rummaged through the contents and pulled out two wrapped up energy bars - one for him, the other for his travelling companion. "You want one? You must be hungry after all that walking, not to mention the massacre we did back at the base, and the wonderful, hardcore sex we had before that."

The second figure, who was a hooded woman, giggled in amusement, took the energy bar, unwrapped it and took a large bite out of it. "Mmm, not too bad, could do with a bit more sugar in it," she said nonchalantly after a shrug to the shoulders. "Where did you get these anyway? Leanbox? Ugh. It's been around a month since you went there. Don't tell me you got these energy bars there."

The man merely shrugged while an amused expression grew upon his face. "Who can say? I can't rightly remember. How about I have another go at your tits so I can remember it clearly?"

"Your a pig, you know that?" the woman responded after munching down some more of the energy bar, although her words hardly sounded insulting at all, quite the opposite in fact.

"Heh. Says the one who has a lot more amorous adventures than anyone in the world. You always go for just about every new recruit, no matter their age or gender." The man then shivered and made some odd noises before getting back to eating his snack.

However, the woman appeared to not be completely fazed by what he had said, instead she merely shrugged her shoulders and munched on the last of the energy bar, though she did seductively play with it by using her tongue. "So what? They like it, I can tell. You did as well after we flirted with each other, in fact I couldn't get rid of you for an entire week. Do you know how worn out I was after all of that?"

"Yeah, yeah, I remember it well enough. Still, you've got a real problem with all that sex you get out of people. Why the hell do you even do it anyway? You never told me about it. Heck, I barely even know you all that well. Just what did you have to go through to become a psychopathic sexual deviant, Veliza?" the man, Laran of Project Ares, asked his estranged friend, his words stern and unnerving.

It was a question that Veliza was not expecting, in fact it had been a long time since she had even talked about her past, let along even thinking about the subject at all. Her expression became grim and sour, a deadly aura began to flow around her as a shadow fell upon her face. "I… think it's better if we don't talk about it."

As Laran rummaged through his backpack for something else to eat, due to him munching down his energy bar, he glanced up at Veliza as a wicked grin began to appear across his face. "Ah c'mon, Vel, it'll be good for you to get it off your chest. You seem pretty troubled by it after all. So, how about it? I'm always eager to hear some juicy secrets from you, ya know. Did you get molested or something? Is that it? Or maybe…"

Much to his surprise Veliza reacted completely violently, more so than she usually would towards him for any other reason. The young woman swung her arm towards the sadistic young man as Anti-Energy erupted from it and crashed into him with a destructive force, which ripped into Laran's flesh and tore up a part of his face, chest and arms. The sheer force of the Anti-Energy, aside from tearing some of the flesh off the young man's body, sent him hurtling off the log and straight into the the ground a few feet away from Veliza, his blood staining the snow-clad ground as burning embers began to rise up from his flesh and clothes.

Laran coughed audibly in pain as he began to rise up from the bloodied, burned snow-clad ground, his eyes soon turned upward to see Veliza glaring down at him, her body and eyes glowing menacingly with Anti-Energy as they began to wave about like fire. Normally the sadistic War God would have entered a blood raged trance and ripped apart the person who attacked him, but this time it was different, because the attacker was Veliza - there was a different feeling between the two of them, and not just because they were friends with benefits. Instead of lashing out in an uncontrolled rage he chose to brush it off with an amused chuckle while wiping his face with his arm. "Well, guess I found a topic that even you're touchy with for once," the young man muttered, grunting with pain every now and then while his body regenerated itself.

"Wasn't that obvious?" Veliza retorted back with a slight growl as she sat back down on a nearby log, yet the Anti-Energy around her body did not dissipate, instead it seemed to grow in size.

"Well how the hell was I supposed to to know that you would find the topic touchy, eh? Could've just said that instead of trying to kill me," Laran grumbled back in response as he got back onto his feet, silently cursing at himself for not bringing a spare change of clothes, and he highly doubted that Veliza was going to share any with him, or whatever the hell she called herself whenever outside the Project Headquarters.

"You could've just asked like a normal person would," the red haired woman retorted back after throwing her hood down to shake her hair about for a few seconds. She looked back at Laran and appeared to be rather surprised about something. "Huh. Usually you would get pretty angry when someone attacks you out of the blue. Did I really knock the wind out of you or something?"

Laran shook his head as a cheeky grin formed upon his face. "Well how the hell am I supposed to get mad at you, huh? You're just too damn adorable, plus I like you."

This caught the unusual woman by surprise, for it was not a comment that she had been expecting, especially from Laran of all people. The sadistic War God would prefer to use people to his own benefit, then cast them aside whenever he felt like it - no kind words ever given to them. This time it was different, Veliza could feel it. She unintentionally blushed as a result of this. "You… you actually like me, and not just as a toy? A-Are you s-sure?"

"Hey, I can't help it, you're just too interesting to me; plus I do like my violent, messed up girls, though you're the only one who fits that description by a mile," the young man replied, giving Veliza something akin to a heartwarming smile - it was not often that anyone would see him smile like that.

The estranged young woman merely blushed a lot more brightly than before, which made her glance away swiftly. _I-I shouldn't feel like this around anyone - ANYONE. So why is Laran… different?_ She thought to herself, yet there was no answer to her thoughts. Instead, she was interrupted by the young man in question, who was now standing in front of her, waving another energy bar in front of her face.

"Here, you might as well have another before we head off to our destination, you'll need the energy," he said before Veliza grabbed it. As the young woman began to eat it at her own pace. Laran sat back down on his log and began to patch up his clothes as best he could, although he had limited resources to do any good, and his task was made a lot more difficult due to a sudden gust of snowy wind. "Tch. Bloody wind and snow. See, this is why I'd prefer to leave the missions in Lowee to other people in the Project, Vel."

"I know. By the way, stop calling me Vel and Veliza when outside the Project boundaries, I prefer to go by France Shellby," the young woman reminded Laran in a stern voice, all previous looks and sounds of embarrassment were now gone.

Laran raised an eyebrow, he always got confused whenever Veliza wanted to be called France Shellby. It had interested him ever since they met two years ago when Project Ares was first set up. "Why do you even call yourself that? Different personalities perhaps? I'll admit, you are a lot more level-headed whenever you go by that name, that is until you start tasting blood, then you're back as Veliza."

The young, estranged woman glanced away again, her eyes full of sorrow. "It's… personal. But I do trust you, certainly more than anyone else I know, so I suppose I'll tell you a bit of it. You see, I had a brother a long time ago who looked out for me, cared for me, protected me. He was called France Shellby, at least he called himself that anyway. We were happy together, living out our lives in peace and away from the Goddesses. That was until one day when a group of three ragtag men arrived, demanding shelter, food and water. My brother refused, and they… they… killed him. The bastards then took me captive and they… I… I don't want to talk about it anymore."

"Yeah, that's probably for the best to be honest, you're already starting to cry," Laran responded, nodding his head in acknowledgment. To him it was a pretty sad story, and judging from what Veliza was going to say it sounded as if they did something to her as well, though Laran preferred to not dwell on the matter further. Instead, silence reigned as the two of them munched on the last of the energy bars while the cold wind died down.

However, that silence was broken when Veliza decided to speak up again, much to the sadist's surprise. "Actually you're not the first person I've spoken to about this, but this man was the only one who ever got the full story."

"Is that so? Guess he must've been one hell of a father figure then." Eventually the young man sighed as he looked around him, his eyes finally setting upon the track to Lowee City once more. "I think it's about time we get moving again, don't you think?"

"Yeah, we better keep moving before we get turned into snowmen. Come on, let's get back on the track. Oh, and remember to call me France Shellby, otherwise I'll snap your limbs next time" Veliza - France Shellby - said to the sadist as she stood up and stretched her limbs before starting to walk off.

"Fine, fine. I'm following ya already, Miss Big Tits," Laran grumbled as he soon followed after her, though fortunately for the young man his battle companion was in an agreeable mood for the first time since they talked beforehand.

The two of them remained silent for the rest of the journey to the city of Lowee, except for the occasional bouts of grumbling, chuckling and cursing when the wind blew around them. After another hour and a half later they had finally reached their destination: the outskirts of Lowee City, and not a moment too soon. "About damn time we finally got here. Now then, on with the mission proper," Laran grumbled after a sigh of relief.

"Agreed. Now then, your grandfather said that the information pointed our target somewhere around here, maybe in the main residential district, but given his occupation he could very well be living in the business district," France informed her sadistic battle companion while reading over a crumpled sheet of paper. "I say we split up and search the city. We'll meet at the park if we don't find anything within two hours. If one of us finds this guy then we tell the other over the phone. Got it?"

"You're not the boss of me, but fine, I get it. "Would've been nice if Akane was still in touch with us, that way we would know a bunch more; remind me later to track her down to… punish her for not keeping in contact since the whole debacle with the Colosseum. Until then, see ya later alligator." With that said Laran and France went their separate ways under the cover of darkness, hoping to not be spotted by the locals while searching for their target. It was harder for the redhead due to her unpredictable bouts of bloodlust, but she did her best to keep it under control while on the mission, which was harder than she would admit at times.

For the next two hours Laran and France carefully wandered the city, wandering for their target. It was less than a success, in fact they practically outright failed to find any solid trace of their prey. It got so frustrating for Laran that he almost wanted to tear the throat out of an elderly couple that passed by him; fortunately for them he had a lot more constraint over his urges than his battle companion. Upon reaching the park, however, Laran received a message on his phone - it was from France. It read 'Found something of interest. Come to the area north-west of the park, I'll be waiting for you. XXX'.

 _Well about damn time she found something, I had no luck around here for two bloody hours! I also need to talk to her about flirting over texts; it's weird._ The sadist thought to himself as he began to head off to the area that France had texted about, hoping that the target was there; he was not a huge fan of doing missions late at night. He was starting to feel a little bit bloodthirsty.

* * *

The mood was cheery inside the house of the Toymaker of Lowee, especially when the Toymaker himself took hold of his little baby daughter Rose, who was more than delighted to be in the arms of her crippled father. The former justiciar of Project Mars smiled affectionately as he rubbed his daughter's belly, causing her to burp, then laugh. It was a contagious laugh, judging from how her parents were laughing soon afterwards. "Hah. Aren't you just adorable, eh? Yes you are, yes you are," Pelagius cooed as he gently tickled the baby, making her giggle.

It was late in the night, but the Toymaker and his family had been unable to sleep on account of Rose crying most of the time, thus they had to stay up late to calm their little girl down, and it worked to some degree. The Toymaker looked out the window he was sitting next to and saw the moon high up in the clouded sky - in a way it looked rather poetic. In fact Pelagius had been more and more constantly looking up at the night sky on most late days, much to the confusion of his wife Margaret. What was he contemplating as he sat in his wheelchair, surrounded by white walls and his family? Life - that was the answer.

Ever since his run-in with Mars, the Toymaker had been thinking over everything he had done throughout his life, from the brutal atrocities that he partook in Project Mars to the mercenary contracts he took soon after the Project's destruction, from his love of making children happy to Mars returning to shoot him in the knees after choosing to let him live. It was not something that was lost on the crippled man. That was why the Toymaker had been doing research into old records he had recovered from the ruins of Project Mars, at least the ones that had not been erased or had been copied over to other external devices. Not a whole lot had been recovered, but there were links to other sources that indicated that there was a backup facility, and from there he had some assistance with hacking a couple of the records.

With what was recovered from all of the hacking debacles, it looked as if time was slowly starting to run out for Gamindustri. The number of War Gods and War Goddesses was on the rise, there had been more sightings of them, more raids, more searches, more aggressiveness. Project Ares was almost on the brink of being fully revealed to the rest of the world, and it frightened Pelagius down to his core. Now that the Toymaker had a new look at the world around him, he had decided to protect it, even against those that had once been a part of the original Project and had once been considered as friends. This did, however, meant that if Pelagius was ever discovered then he would be disposed of, brutally so, especially if Maximilian was preparing to show the world what was going to happen. If the Toymaker kept attempting to find more information then it was possible that he could be noticed, or if he kept going into public then the same scenario would play out. This also did mean that Pelagius' family would become a target as well, and that was what worried the poor, toy-producing man the most, not to mention that he had yet to even tell his wife about his past.

"Are you okay, darling? You've been out of sorts ever since you were attacked," Margaret asked in a concerned voice as she stood in front of her husband, her eyes staring straight at his face with a hint of worry in her expression.

"Hmm? Oh, it's nothing really, was just thinking about how well the night looked at the moment. Looks poetic, don't you think?" Pelagius responded as he looked back at his worried wife, a smile plastered on his face.

Margaret signed, although she did have to admit that he was right. "Yes, it sure is a beautiful night, and a lucky one now that Rose has just fallen asleep."

"Really? Well, isn't that a sight for sore eyes? That's wonderful, now perhaps we can get to sleep," Pelagius chuckled as he looked back at the baby in his arms, who was now snuggling up in his warm embrace. Just seeing this made him remember the conversation over the phone with Mars a while back when the topic turned towards Rose. _I should get Margaret to take a photo of little Rose so I can send it to Mars, maybe that will change his attitude towards babies and children in general. Hmm, if Mars had a child I wonder what she or he would be like? I would certainly like to see something like that happen at some point in the future, if I live long enough to see it._

Margaret smiled brightly after a light chuckle and picked up the baby Rose, ready to put her back to bed. It was a relief to both parents that their young child was now asleep for the first time in many hours. Once Margaret had walked down the corridor silently with Rose in her arms, the Toymaker sighed and wheeled his way down towards his office, there was something that he needed to do, something that he found to be urgent. Upon entering his office after swinging the door open he wheeled himself over to the desk, where partially completed hand-carved toys were littered all over the place, and began to search through the drawers for something.

"Where is it? Where is it? Where the hell did I put it? Damn, I should have done this earlier before I forgot about it," Pelagius muttered to himself as he swiftly searched through drawer after drawer, the object he was looking for was nowhere to be found, which merely made him annoyed at first. However, after another minute or two he finally came across a sheet of paper with his handwriting on it. Pelagius grabbed it and closed the drawer, his eyes darting over what he had written. "I should have sent a photo of this to Mars earlier, the future of Gamindustri hangs in the balance."

As the Toymaker went to grab his phone, his eyes darted over to the window as an uneasy feeling grew within him. Pelagius looked at what was outside the window, wondering if his defensive nerves were a bit haywire, when he saw it, or rather them. Two figures standing atop the roof of a neighbouring house, a crazed look in their glowing blood red eyes. War Gods; they had finally tracked the Toymaker down. The crippled man stared at the two figures in the distance as they armed themselves with what looked like Molotovs, a Gatling gun and their Anti-Energy, but all that Pelagius could do was sigh in a final defeat as he quickly wheeled himself out of his office and straight towards his room, where his wife and baby daughter were located.

 _Margaret, Rose, forgive me._ The Toymaker said in his mind as he neared his room to warn his family about the danger at hand, but unbeknownst to him this simple act of trying to save his family was all to be in vain.

* * *

"MARS! GET OVER HERE RIGHT NOW!" Noire shouted loudly down the corridor to the unfortunate young man, who was trying to rub some pain relief liquid into his disfiguring scars from behind a closed door.

Mars growled to himself and shook his head, guessing what was going on with Noire, and it was most likely going to escalate within minutes. The young man looked over towards the bathroom mirror, stared at his tired reflection and sighed. "Can't I ever have peace around here?" he asked himself in a state of melancholy. "Can't she just deal with the problem herself for once? Ugh. Ever since yesterday evening she's been going off her tree about it all."

"MARS!" Noire yelled again, this time a lot louder, so loud in fact that half of the Basilicom could hear what was going on.

"I'm comin', I'm comin'! For crying out loud you damn cosplayer, can't you just figure out a way to deal with it?"Mars shouted back in response as he rubbed the last of the liquid into his scarred skin, finally emptying the bottle once and for all - now he needed another for future use.

"Just get up here already! A-A-And I have n-no idea what you're talking about!" the twin-tailed Goddess shouted in a firm tone, which was then followed by a laugh from the person who Mars correctly guessed was the source of the trouble.

The young man sighed, put on his black collared shirt and left the guest bathroom for the upper floor where some of the the guest bedrooms were located, and where Mars himself still preferred to live in, despite all the attempts that Uni have tried to persuade him to move into a much more larger room closer to the bedrooms where she and Noire were. The half-dragon kept grumbling to himself about the ridiculousness of what could be going on. After walking up the stairs to the next floor where all the guest bedrooms where located, there he saw what was going on. Noire and Ares were at it again, and this time it looked like it would be a lot more difficult to break the two apart before they tried to tear each other to pieces.

Something similar to this was starting to happen more often, and it had only been Ares and Enyo's first night at their new home; the grey haired War God and the prideful CPU of Lastation had been going head-to-head on just about every single topic as soon as they meet eye-to-eye. It had been only an evening and a night since the two rogue subjects of Project Ares had made their home in the Basilicom, due to the invitation of Mars, and the amount of arguments would have broken world records. As Mars shook his head and sighed depressingly at the two of them going head-to-head once again for some reason or another, Enyo came out of her room dressed in a grey lined black bathrobe, her blonde hair messed up due to the effects of sleeping in a bed. She was carrying a white towel and some bathing items as well as a spare change of clothes.

"Good… good morning, Mars," Enyo greeted Mars amidst yawns as she walked over to him, her eyes barely able to keep open while her posture was slouched somewhat forward, no doubt due to how tired she appeared to be. The blonde haired woman looked over at Noire and her love interest arguing with each other loudly, their arms starting to get out of control, then she shook her head in disappointment. "I might not like the CPUs as much as any baddie, but even I wouldn't have this many arguments with just one Goddess."

"You got that right," Mars responded while nodding his head in agreement. "Noire called for me a minute ago, probably wants me to deal with this like what happened last night when Uni and I were making dinner for everybody. Ugh. This is annoying. Actually, it kinda reminds me of how she and I used to be around each other - always looking for an excuse to fight."

Enyo raised an eyebrow at the young man as her gaze turned back towards him. "You don't say? Judging from what you told me about yourself and Miss Know-it-all over there, it would seem that the two of you would constantly be at each other's throats. So why isn't that the case now? The two of you seem to get along a lot better than what it sounded like?"

"Just 'cause it is now I reckon," Mars replied as he shrugged his shoulders. The young man was not prepared to speak of it openly, at least not without Noire's permission, but he figured that the only reason that he and the senior CPU of Lastation were getting along a bit better was because of the cosplay conventions and dress ups. Still, there was the occasional argument that would break out every now and then, though it would not do much to tarnish their friendship.

"Uh huh, if you say so. Though you were a lot different when we were kids, in fact you were the friendliest person around, if a bit of a loner, and obsessed with guns. How time has changed. Look, I'm going for a shower, so I'll catch up with you later." Enyo then walked past Mars and yawned audibly once more as she disappeared from sight, leavinf the unfortunate brown haired man to deal with two opposing, headstrong people - his half-brother and the older sister of his girlfriend. After a heavy sigh he walked up to them, his expression far from being amused.

"All right, what's the issue this time, Noire? Did Ares bump into you, or did he make some sort of sexual joke, or perhaps he just trod on your foot and laughed? Spill it, I'm hungry, and I know Uni will get impatient if we take too long to get to breakfast again," Mars inquired in a gruff tone, hoping that it would speed up the entire situation before it got worse.

The raven haired Goddess glanced over at Mars, an impatient look adorned her face as she crossed her arms. "About damn time, Mars. Where have you been?"

"Busy with stuff. What of it?" the half-dragon grumbled back in response, which caused Ares to chuckle due to Noire's infuriated expression, which had quickly replaced her impatient look.

"Look, I don't care even if you were giving your nails a manicure, just deal with your brother here," Noire demanded with narrowed eyes while jabbing a thumb in Ares' direction, much to his amusement.

"I wasn't given 'em a manicure, and he isn't my brother - he's my half-brother." It always got in the young man's nerves when just about everyone in the Basilicom could not tell the difference between a brother and a half-brother, thus resulting in a lot of cursing. For the meantime, however, Mars was prepared to leave that behind him until he solved this latest issue. "Anyway, what's the problem this time?"

Ares glanced over at his older half-brother with a look of surprise. "Are you kidding me? You haven't got it already? She's a stuck up bitch who hates my guts. Keeps going on about how I don't belong here, how I should keep out of her sight and keeps blabbering on about charging me a high rent if I insist on being here, not to mention a whole lot of other bitchy stuff. How the hell did you manage to keep on living with this so-called Goddess for this long without killing her?"

"I adapted," was Mars' stern reply.

It was all too much for the twin-tailed CPU, who was already fuming with rage. Ares' mere presence was more than enough to send her into a fury, for Mars had not consulted her with housing arrangements beforehand, and the grey haired War God could have killed Uni during their match back at the Colosseum if Mars had not intervened, but now he was always baiting her into arguments that seemed pointless at times. However, Noire was now further enraged due to all the accusations thrown at her by the apparently ungrateful rogue War God, and Mars did not even seem to care, in fact he seemed to be sympathising with the one man he appeared to despise.

"Wh-Why are you just going along with what he's saying? I'm not a heartless bitch!" Noire exclaimed out of frustration, her fists clenched and a snarling look appeared in her already annoyed expression. "Do something useful around here for once and get Ares away from me already?

Mars merely sighed as he figured out that the argument was basically just a fun game for Ares, judging from the look on the rogue War God's face - he seemed mighty pleased by what was going on at least. "Can't you just go about the day without annoying Noire here for once? You've already set a world record that even I couldn't have hoped to achieve when I was first here. Just avoid her and Uni as best you can, and try not to piss them off any more, or else I'll crack your skull into tiny pieces again."

The grey haired War God grimaced as he remembered their fight in the Colosseum when the enraged half-dragon and smashed a fist into his head, almost shattering every bone there. The memory of the pain and experience was enough for Ares to accept defeat for once in his life; it seemed as if Enyo was right, getting beaten up and then going on the run had done some good to him. "Ugh. Fine then, I'll relent on the constant bickering, but it isn't fun when I try to argue with Enyo so I'm gonna be bored soon."

"Then play a damn FPS game on the console in the living room, that might solve your boredom for a while. Or why not just tinker with some gadgets like the techno enthusiast you are? And don't even try to annoy Enyo, she's already gone through a lot for you," Mars informed his younger half-brother sternly as he began to walk past him, with Noire following close by. Soon enough Ares was left on his own, and he was already starting to get bored, although his thoughts started to turn to his blonde haired childhood friend thanks to Mars' words. With a heavy sigh he decided to go back into his room, unable to stop thinking about Enyo.

Meanwhile, Noire and Mars headed off towards the kitchen, hoping that Uni would not be annoyed with their tardiness for some late breakfast. The reason that it was a late breakfast was because Mars, Uni, Noire, Kei, Enyo and Ares took turns to play a first-person shooter game for the entire night and into the early hours of the morning, although it turned into a contest between Noire, Enyo and Ares due to various reasons, while Mars, Uni and Kei kept to themselves. Altogether it was an eventful night, and a good time to sit back and let out some steam as the brown haired half-dragon put it, although Uni and Kei had to point out that they found the young man's attitude to work to be unrelatable.

The young man and the twin-tailed Goddess remained silent for the rest of their trip to the kitchen, but it was evident that Noire was thankful for Mars' intervention earlier, as was proven by the way she looked at him. Once Mars and Noire arrived in the kitchen they saw Uni glance at them with a slightly annoyed look in her eyes. "Where have you two been? I made breakfast a little earlier before. It's on the table if you want it, n-no need to thank me or anything."

Mars raised an eyebrow as he approached the CPU Candidate, then he affectionately rubbed her head, much to her mild annoyance, although the young man merely found the pouting expression to be just too adorable. "Well thanks for breakfast anyway, Uni, I'll find a way to pay you back later."

"Y-You really don't have to," the raven haired Candidate muttered as Mars withdrew, giving her a kind smile as he made his way towards the dining table, leaving Uni to be embarrassed. "Idiot, I don't need tp be paid back, just having you around is more than enough."

"You do realise that he can't hear you when you're mumbling to yourself, right?" Noire pointed out, much to Uni's embarrassment, as was evident with her bright red face. However, it merely raised another subject that the senior Lastationite CPU really wanted to know about clearly. "Uni, do you really love Mars a lot, as in a _lot_?"

The CPU Candidate glanced away, her fingers fidgeting about nervously as she tried to come up with a response to her older sister's question. It was a question that seemed to be rather obvious to many people. Regardless, it was still embarrassing for the Lastationite Candidate to answer, mainly because there was a part to her that was still not used to it, in fact it was still why Mars and a few others continued to call her a tsundere. Eventually, she managed to give an answer with a mixed embarrassed yet loving smile. "Well, yes, I-I do l-l-love him a lot, and n-nothing will change that. Ever. I don't care what might try to break us apart, we'll get past them."

For some reason that made Uni more than a little confused, Noire appeared to be feeling a mixed amount of emotions, as was evident in the uncertain expression that adorned her face. Was she feeling sadness? Jealousy? Happiness? Pride? It felt too ambiguous for the CPU Candidate to understand what sort feelings that her sister's expression was showing. Regardless, the twin-tailed CPU of Lastation seemed to take the answer well after sighing audibly. "Well at least you are serious about it, just keep at it I suppose. It's clear that he loves you dearly."

"Hehe. Yeah, I can tell, though it's embarrassing to have all that attention focused solely on me. Well, he doesn't give me attention everyday, in fact he gets quite sublime with all that stuff. I guess even he isn't used to it either," Uni chuckled, shaking her head with some amusement. It was somewhat clear to see that she liked the attention thrown at her, and she also enjoyed showing Mars the same level of affection in her own way. "Are you… okay with it, Noire?"

Much to Uni's surprise, Norie glanced away as she crossed her arms, her expression starting to grow sour. It seemed that there were some issues that the senior Goddess had with the whole situation between Uni and Mars. Eventually, however, she did not voice any of her thoughts, instead choosing to focus on the good points. "If you are happy, then I am happy. Just keep yourself safe and happy, got it?"

Uni nodded firmly, a big smile starting to appear across her face; she seemed to be in a jubilant mood after listening to Noire's words. "All right then, thanks a lot for that, Noire. By the way, you should eat your breakfast before it goes cold, or before Mars eats it before you get to it again."

Suddenly the two sisters heard Mars call out to them, making them remember that he had dragon hearing which enabled him to hear things more clearly. "Too late, already ate it, well, most of it anyway. There's still a bit left if you want what's left."

Uni could not help but sigh and shake her head, although Noire was less than amused, in fact she was fuming with anger, though it was easy for Mars to understand why since he was the one who ate most of her food. "Why would you do that, Mars?! I wanted to eat that! Ugh. That does it, you're going to help me with paperwork and moving documents around today until I say you can stop, and there is to be no arguments about it. Do you understand?"

"No," the young man responded with a shake of the head, annoying Noire even further, but it made Uni chuckle to no end. Soon afterwards, however, Mars sighed and stood up, pushing his chair back in the process, his gaze turning back towards the haughty Goddess of Black Regality. "Well, I did plan of going out later to get some mods for my handguns and rifle, then go find some more medical supplies since we've seem to have run out. Until then I have some time to kill. Whaddaya need done?"

"Paperwork shuffling really, there are a lot of folders and documents that need to be moved around after they are signed and properly sorted out into their separate orders," Noire explained, motioning her left hand around as she spoke out of instinct. "Normally I would ask Kei for assistance when it comes to matters like this, since you have proven your distaste for it in the past, but unfortunately Kei is off doing her own thing in the city. The task shouldn't take too long, but that does not give you the excuse to slack off while working, understand? I hope so."

"Like I said, I've got time to kill, so I can do some paper shuffling," Mars informed Noire as he stretched his arms about. "Well let's get it over with, unless you want to eat now and not later."

"It will take a little while to get another dish ready, not to mention that I haven't made any for myself or for those two savages; Kei didn't want any though. You two can go and do whatever is needed to do with the paperwork, just try not to kill each other over something, okay?" Uni said as she washed up some of the cooking utensils that were used beforehand.

Noire did not appear to be willing to make Uni labour further with the task of remaking breakfast, but after glancing over at Mars to see him nod she relented and sighed. "All right then, I won't argue with you about it. Mars and I will be working in my office, so head there once you are done with cooking. And, um, th-thanks, Uni, for breakfast."

The CPU Candidate was taken back by the sudden gratitude, but quickly lapped it up with a bright smile, glad to get a praise out of her older sister. "Your welcome, Noire. Just make sure that Mars doesn't get to your breakfast as soon as I've given it to you."

"Don't blame me if I get hungry," the half-dragon said jokingly, which only caused the two Goddesses to stare at him with unamused expressions. "Ugh. Fine, fine, I get it, no eating food that's given to Noire."

"I hope you get it, for your sake," Noire grumbled as she headed off into the corridor, before she wandered off back towards her office the raven haired Goddess looked back at her younger sister and gave her a small smile, then she disappeared down the corridor to head back to her office. It was a cue for Mars to follow her, although he was rather reluctant.

"Guess I better head off, otherwise your sister is gonna berate me again," Mars said as he approached the CPU Candidate, who was getting her utensils ready again. "I'll see you later, if I survive."

"You'll be fine, Mars, it's not like Noire is going to bite your head off or anything. You'll be fine, as long as you keep your hands to yourself and keep your mouth closed, then you will be fine with Noire, and me to an extent," Uni informed the brown haired half-dragon with a grin, nudging him slightly with a cheeky disposition.

"Ha ha," Mars laughed sarcastically with an expressionless face, although all it merely did was make the Candidate of Lastation giggle. In the end, Mars sighed and smiled at Uni before the two of them awkwardly gave each other a hug. "Well, catcha later, Uni. Good luck and everything."

"I'm pretty sure it's you who needs all the good luck, but thanks anyway," Uni giggled as she and Mars withdrew from the hug. "Good luck, and don't keep Noire waiting."

Mars nodded, gave Uni one more bright smile and left for Noire's office, his stride becoming more and more quicker as he moved up the stairs and straight for Noire's office, where the sounds of rapid typing and paper shuffling could be heard from within. The senior CPU of Black Regality was already busy, and from what Mars could hear due to his dragon hearing he could tell that Noire was in a hurry to get it all over and done with, for one reason or another. Upon entering the oversized office Mars was met with a large stack of paper, which was thrusted into his arms by the twin-tailed Goddess herself. He was a bit confused with what to do next, considering that Noire had not told him what to do with it.

As soon as she realised that fact, so blushed mildly due to a variety of reasons, but quickly recovered herself to make an explanation. "Oh, that's right, sorry for not explaining it. I want you to sort through this and divide them into different piles; one for government, one for military, and one for finance. I'm trusting you with this heavy responsibility, so don't fail me."

"Um, okay then. Anything else I should be aware of before I make a mockery of your trust?" Mars asked with a cheeky grin adorning his expression, which caused Noire to break out in a less than amused grumble before answering, to which she then started to become rather embarrassed, so embarrassed that her cheeks blushed bright red and her gaze was directed to the floor while her twiddled with her index fingers.

"W-Well, um… I-I-I was just wondering, but… do you still like c-cosplaying? I mean, we haven't done cosplaying for a while together, s-so I was just hoping that m-maybe we could, you know, get this work out of the way and just cosplay for a while," Noire manage to say to Mars, her tone going from a nervous stutter at first to a less than confident voice.

The young man had not been expecting Noire to ask about the two of them cosplaying, and he did realise that it had been quite a while since the two of them had gotten together to do anything remotely related to dressing up in different outfits, some more fashionable than others and some more revealing than most. Nonetheless, it was a request that Mars had been thinking about for a couple of days already; it could be said that the young man had actually gotten so used to cosplaying that it was a natural hobby for him - Noire would have been proud if she realised that fact.

"Well, I'm definitely not against it if that's what you're thinking. All right then, I'm up for it, but not for too long, there's some shopping that I want to get done sooner or later," Mars replied as he walked off and sat down in front of Noire's desk, ready to start his given task.

The response was more than Noire could have hoped for, in fact she was so pleased and overly happy that she even jumped up and down slightly with joy before getting back to work. "Th-Thanks, Mars, thanks a lot. It's been a while since I've cosplayed, probably because I've gotten used to doing it with you… W-Wait, ignore that! I didn't say anything!"

The blue-eyed half-dragon sighed and shook his head as he sorted through some pieces of paper, the embarrassed and haughty persona of Noire was something that he had still not fully gotten used to despite his long stay in the Basilicom, but the reaction that the twin-tailed Goddess responded with was cute in its own way, which he lost no time in pointing out. "NO, I'm not going to ignore what you said, Noire, because you become pretty cute after you have an outburst like that. Very cute. Kinda like Uni actually."

"D-Don't just say that out loud! Think it in your head, not speak it to me in such a blunt manner!" Norie exclaimed, her face full of embarrassment as her cheeks turned bright red. Soon enough the senior Lastationite CPU hid her face behind her computer monitor and spoke from behind that. "J-Just get on with your part of the work, then we'll cosplay."

Mars merely chuckled with amusement before returning do his given task, which was rather boring for him, but since Noire had faith in him regarding the sorting out of different government documents he was not going to fail her just because it would be good for a laugh, plus his subconscious was secretly pleased with the idea of having a short cosplay session with the twin-tailed Goddess; if Noire had known about it then she would have had a much more difficult time in getting her work done, but it would also have made her very excited.

After some time had passed, roughly twenty minutes at best, Uni entered the office with Noire's breakfast, which consisted of some freshly cooked beans, rice, an assortment of vegetables, a small bowl of miso soup and a fancy cup of tea, all of which was carried on a grey tray. The CPU Candidate noticed how busy her half-dragon boyfriend and haughty older sister were at that moment, not to mention how peaceful the two seemed to be as well, which brought a smile to her face. Uni walked up to the desk and placed the tray down near her sister, which broke her and Mars' concentration on their work to focus upwards at the raven haired Candidate.

"Having fun you two?" Uni asked with a grin, finding it somewhat funny to see Mars and Noire being nice together while working with the utmost efficiency. It was not often that the CPU Candidate of Black Regality had the opportunity to witness such a scene play out before her, so she soaked it up with glee, which was not lost on her sister and boyfriend.

"It's just work, no fun here I'm afraid," Noire replied, her gaze moving from her younger sister back towards the computer monitor, and back up towards the Candidate. "Although, thanks for the late breakfast, I was starting to get rather hungry actually."

"No problem, just let me know if there's anything else you need later on when something needs to be done." Uni then gave the two of them one last bright smile as well as giving Mars a light yet affectionate hug, then with a wink directed towards the young man she disappeared out into the corridor and son was out of sight, leaving Mars and Noire to get on with their work once more.

The young man, however, seemed a little bit distracted with something, as was evident by his constant muttering. After a couple of minutes Noire appeared to have had enough and decided to question Mars about it. "What's going on with you, Mars? You're being distracted by something. What is it?"

"Huh? Oh, it's nothing really, just thinking about what gift to give to Uni while shopping around the city later today, though I'm not sure what to get her. Gun mods just don't seem to be enough for her I reckon, she needs more than that," The haf-dragon responded as he looked at Noire, chuckling to himself while rubbing the back of his head. It was not often that he spoke to anyone about buying gifts for Uni, although Kei and Nepgear were usually informed about such things for advice.

"Hmm… How about you just keep on doing your work and worry about it later, it's obvious that she'll be happy with almost anything you could get for her," the raven haired Goddess said as she looked at the young man for a couple of seconds before returning to her work.

Mars merely grumbled a few unintelligent words at Noire, but soon enough he got back to the business of sorting out the various government papers in front of him, which was already starting to get boring, but for Noire's sake he decided to persevere through it and get to the end. That took another hour at best, and with barely any breaks in between. Eventually Mars had finally managed to separate the large pile of papers he was given into their own divisions, which was to be looked over later if Kei returned earlier than expected. The senior CPU of Lastation also seemed to have completed most of what she had set out to do, and it took less time than she anticipated thanks for Mars. Noire sighed and stretched her arms upwards, sighing cutely with relief.

"Well, as much I would prefer getting more work done I think that this should be enough, I mean at least the important things were done and dusted quickly," the crimson-eyed CPU said to Mars as she pushed her large office chair away from the desk. Upon standing up she dusted her dress off and wandered over beside the young man, who cracked his neck to get rid of some of the crampedness, if not all off it.

"Yeah, I guess so, but working on governmental documents and papers is kinda boring to be honest," Mars responded as he gazed up at Noire. "Well, at least it is out of the way now, which means-"

"Cosplay time!" the now excited Goddess exclaimed, cutting off Mars as he spoke. She then proceeded to grab the young man by his right wrist and practically drag him out of the office and into the corridor. Their destination was Noire's room, more specifically the large, spacious add-on part where she liked to dress up in.

It did not take too long for them to arrive, and when they did Mars looked around him, eyeing the oversized room - which appeared to be more of a huge royal hall to him - and hummed away. "I see you redecorated. I don't like it."

"Oi! Just because you don't like it doesn't mean that you can go around voicing it to me. I spend a lot of time fixing up this place," the haughty CPU retorted with a glaring pout before she retreated behind a large curtain, which blocked off entrance to the changing room behind it - although it was not much of a barrier. "There's another changing room that I had installed just to the left, you'll find some costumes that I came across some time ago that I want to see you wear."

"You really want to see me cosplay badly, don't you?" the half-dragon asked as he made his way into the spare changing room, listening to Noire's embarrassed stutter along the way. Upon entering the changing room Mars saw a variety of different outfits that Noire had chosen for him, and some were actually rather interesting in his opinion.

One of the most interesting outfits was a blue jumpsuit with yellow lining, the number 111 on the collar and back, and a sleeveless black leather duster attached to it with some protective 'armour' around the shoulders and chest. It look like a piece of attire from a clothing mod in some sort of post-apocalyptic game. It also came with a black stetson that had a poker card in the rim of it, on the back of the card was the symbol of Lastation. There was also a pair of black boots to go along with the costume. Mars was not overly fond of some outlandish designs, but this was something that he liked, although he knew that it was not something that should be worn as if it was some normal attire.

 _Hmm… If I was a CPU then this would definitely be my HDD outfit, no doubt 'bout that._ Mars thought as he began to undress himself after closing the curtains behind him. It turned out to be rather difficult to get the outfit on, especially with the whole jumpsuit thing, which took longer than the young man anticipated to get into and zip up.

As the brown haired War God of Lastation was busy adjusting his duster coat and hat, then realising that he had yet to put his boots on, he heard Noire slide open the curtain to her changing room and step out, her booted feet tapped gently across the ground as she made her way to where Mars was located. "You finished in there yet? I don't want to barge in and see whatever it is you have," the raven haired Goddess asked as she stood near the curtain to the young man's changing room.

"Yeah, almost done, just gotta fix up this hat and the boots," came the response, followed by a couple of grunts and some mumbling.

Noire raised an eyebrow and watched the half-dragon's shadow from beneath the curtain - it looked as if he was rushing around in there with something at hand. "You okay in there? What are you even dressing up as?"

"Something you bought of course, what else would it be?" Mars retorted in a sarcastic tone while he tied up his boots, although his choice of words were not what Noire expected, which made her grumble at him. "Well I'm almost done anyway, if that's what you're wondering."

"Just hurry up already, you said that you had some shopping to do sooner or later," the cosplaying CPU grumbled in response. Eventually Mars threw open the curtains and stepped out, revealing what he had chosen to wear. Judging from how Noire nodded her head and hummed it appeared as if she liked what she was looking at. "You know, it kinda suits you. The jumpsuit might not be your colour, but I think it fits with the post-apocalyptic vault gunslinger theme."

Mars, however, was stunned with what Noire had chosen to wear. It consisted of a black sleeveless dress with red outlines, black armor around the upper body, black gauntlets on her arms and black greaves reaching up her thighs; black stockings with a red rim were worn underneath her greeves. Around in her hair were some black and red ribbons with a flower in the center of each one of them. A part of Mars thought it was rather risque, considering how the dress was prone to swaying about whenever Noire moved to show off her attire to the young man, but overall he summarised it in one word.

"Beautiful," Mars muttered as he continued to stare at Noire, unaware that she could hear him.

"Wh-Wh-Wha?! Did you just say what I think you just said?" the now embarrassed CPU stuttered as her cheeks blushed bright red. The situation had gone from pleasant to uncertain, neither Noire or Mars knew how to proceed with their time cosplaying together. It only made matter more awkward when Noire muttered something in response. "W-Well, you're not so bad y-yourself."

Mars merely raised an eyebrow in Noire's direction, confused with why she was complimenting him in such a way. It had never happened before, at least not in the way that was happening as of now with borderline flirting. The young man was just glad that Uni did not know about his and Noire's shared cosplay hobby, otherwise it would have already been turned to hell. The awkward silence, which lasted for a short amount of time, finally ended when Mars grumbled to himself and walked over to a nearby table, where Noire kept some of her technological equipment.

"Wh-What are you doing? Trying to find something over there?" Noire asked hesitantly as she glanced over in the young man's general direction, secretly glad that he was not looking at her.

"Looking for a… Aha! There it is," Mars was about to reply when he suddenly pulled out a black coloured camera and a tripod that went along with it. It became clear as to what the Fire Dragon's intentions were.

"You… want to take pictures of us in these outfits?" Noire asked with a hint of surprise in her tone of voice, her cheeks starting to blush a light shade of red now that Mars had his attention back on her while she fidgeted on the spot.

The young man walked back towards the Lastationite Goddess with camera and tripod in hand, seemingly answering the simple question without any words as he began to set it up nearby. Soon enough he spoke his reasons. "What's the problem with taking pictures of what we're wearing? We've been doing it ever since you got me to cosplay with you. I'll admit, I'm not good with photos, but you always seem to like it, in fact you always become more cheerful when it comes to stuff like this. Has that changed?"

"N-No, not at all! I… I want to continue on with this, so let's do it," Noire replied with a firm tone as she shook her head swiftly; it was as if the awkwardness between her and Mars had never happened now that she was in a good mood again. With a light-hearted smile she approached Mars as he was about to finish setting up the camera and the tripod that was attached to it, watching as the half-dragon mumbled to himself about wishing it was easier to set up tripods and work out how a camera is supposed to be used properly, due to him not knowing a lot about technology that did not happen to be a weapon.

Both Mars and Noire had to agree that they found it a lot of fun just standing around in different costumes and cosplaying as random characters while having photos of themselves taken at the same time. It had indeed been a while since they had even done any sort of cosplay event with each other, that and taking photos on the young man's initiative was something that Noire appreciated immensely. They spent the next part of an hour and a half dressing up as various different characters from a wide range of franchises as well as games, television shows and so forth. It was, to them, a lot of fun, although Mars did not show it most of the time. As time passed on by like breath on a mirror, Mars realised that he was running out of outfits to wear and take photos of alongside Noire, who coincidentally appeared to have an endless supply of costumes to wear.

"Ugh, I'm getting worned out by all this," Mars mumbled to himself as he leaned up against the back wall of the changing room he was in, although the half-dragon quickly realised that the twin-tailed CPU could hear him mumbling to himself.

"Already had enough? Sheesh, since when did you start acting like a wimp? I think you've been going soft ever since you and Uni started dating. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that it's necessarily a bad thing, but it would be nice if you didn't become too soft," Noire informed the young man from her changing room amidst the sounds of ruffling clothes.

"Soft? Me? Pah, in your dreams!" the young man responded haughtily, along with a rough sounding chuckle afterwards. Secretly though, Mars realised that Noire was not entirely wrong; he had started to become more hospitable in nature than ever before, and that in itself was not completely a bad thing. _Guess it isn't something to be too worried about. Although what about my anger that helps give me an edge in combat, and also deters idiots away from me at times? I need that, even if it is somewhat tamed. It seems there are three options for me. One: become completely tamed of my anger and bloodlust, thus turning me into a pacifist. Two: forego this transformation in my nature and personality and return to a primal state. Three: take a middle way as best as I can. Actually, the third option is best, but it all depends on what Uni does. Or what happens to her._

The Fire Dragon of Lastation was disturbed from his thoughts thanks to the raven haired Goddess in the opposite changing room, who was clearly starting to get concerned over the young man's sudden quietness while she had been trying to talk to him. "Hello? Mars? You awake in there? Ugh, feels like I'm talking to myself."

"Huh? Oh, right, sorry 'bout that and all. Was just thinking to myself about what you said before about me becoming soft, that and Uni as well," Mars replied hastily after realising Noire was trying to talk to him. "Heh, seems like I can't stop thinking about her."

This time it was Noire's turn to become silent, in fact Mars could not hear anything aside from her mumbling every now and then, but apart from that there was not much else to hear. That was until the cosplaying CPU spoke up in a nervous and mildly quiet tone. "Hey, Mars, can I ask you something… personal?"

The half-dragon was mildly surprised to hear Noire as such a question; it was not often that something like this ever came up between the young man and anyone who was not Uni. "Well I guess so. What's the problem?"

"W-Well it's just… it's about you, Uni, and the relationship you two have together. I mean, wh-what's it like being in a relationship like that? I-I-It's not as if I'm j-jealous of it or anything, I was merely wondering what it was like for the two of you!" This was the personal that Mars received from Noire, and it was not one that he had been expecting at all; the tsundere comment at the end was, however, just like her the young man summarised to himself silently.

At any rate, Mars was not quite sure how to respond to the personal question, let alone understand why Noire wanted to know so badly. "Why do you wanna know? I'm thinking you _are_ jealous of me and Uni, and you want to get in on the action and make it a harem between two goddess sisters and their half-dragon lover. Well sorry to disappoint you there, but I'm not into that sort of stuff, it just wouldn't be good for my health or for Uni's after all. Not saying that there's anything I have against you, I mean you are kinda pretty and all."

"Th-That isn't what I meant at all, you fire breathing idiot! I mean really… Urgh!" the twin-tailed CPU exclaimed loudly in a fit of fury and embarrassment whilst she banged on the wall between the two of them a couple of times. Eventually she calmed down enough to talk in a much more calmer manner than before. "As I was trying to say beforehand, I just w-want to know what it's like being in a r-relationship like you and Uni's."

The young, brown haired man sighed as he leaned up against the wall that separated him and Noire before speaking. "I'm guessing you;ve playing those dating games that Vert lent the lot of us a while back, yeah? If so then it's kinda like that, only more realistic. It takes quite some time to develop into a stage such as where me and Uni are right now, but it's worth it. We tell each other everything, well, almost everything I suppose. The romance of it is just… well, it's wonderful. Were you actually jealous of us? Is that why you're asking this all of a sudden?"

Noire's answer surprised Mars quite a bit despite all the teasing just beforehand. "Well… I guess I am. I mean, look at how well you and Uni get along, and even before you two started dating she was more open to you than me. It was just unusual and even annoying at times to see how well you both got along; and then there was me, who is unable to even make a lot of friends or even do any friendship stuff with anyone. When Uni started dating you I had mixed feelings. Don't get me wrong, I was and still am happy for the two of you, but seeing you both be all lovey-dovey and distancing yourselves away from me is just… heart wrenching for me to bear. Plus I… I do kind of… l-l-like you. A-A bit! Only a bit! As a c-close friend I mean."

"Heh. Is that so? Well, at least you don't have the same feelings for me as Uni does, otherwise she would tear you a new one. Literally, too," Mars chuckled half-heartedly, which in turn made Noire start to giggle alongside the young man. It quickly turned into a hearty laugh, which lasted quite a while before the two of them calmed down. Soon enough, however, Mars said something that would fill Noire's thoughts for a long, long time to come. "Listen, I get that you feel jealous of me and Uni, and I'm guessing that you really want to feel like Uni as well - to have someone depend on you and give you the emotional, and even romantic, support you need. Just… just don't get too attached to me, I don't want to see you unintentionally hurt Uni's feelings. I'm sure there is someone out there who's right for you, but until then just keep on dreaming."

"D-Don't make it sound so mushy like that!" was all that the raven haired Goddess could respond with, which only made Mars laugh in amusement. Little did they realise that what they were saying and all that they had done was being recorded as well as having pictures taken by several hidden cameras that were placed throughout the room, hidden from view.

* * *

It had been a couple of hours since Mars and Noire cosplayed together and had their personal conversation, which ended with the young man laughing off the awkwardness before getting dressed and leaving, but not before the senior CPU of Lastation quietly thanked him for his kind and unusually optimistic words about her finding someone special. After departing from Noire's room the half-dragon had returned to his room, gathered his wallet, his handguns, and then left to head off into the city. However, upon leaving the Basilicom and during his journey throughout the city for shopping items the brown haired man met a few people who decided to accompany him, much to his misfortune - only for one person though, the other two were fine by him.

"Why the hell did you need to get a whole lot of food, drinks, spices and a whole load of other shit? Doesn't the kitchen already have enough stuff to last a while?" Ares asked his older half-brother in a disgruntled tone while being forced to carry a plastic shopping bag full of goods. He was not having a good time, considering that it was Enyo who wanted to accompany Mars while also helping the steel-grey haired War God find some bits and pieces for a piece of technology he was fixing up.

"If you don't like it then piss off already," Mars grumbled harshly in response, his stare glaring into Ares' soul, who did the exact same thing back at him.

"Oh just shut it, both of you," the third member of the part, Enyo, growled in a demanding manner, silencing the two half-brothers for good - neither one of them wanted to upset her for different reasons. The War Goddess sighed and shook her head. "Seriously, why can't you two just try to get along for once? You both were really friendly with each other when the three of us were kids."

The air felt cold and sounded silent once those words had been spoken; it seemed as if the past mattered little to the two brothers, which silently upsetted the blonde haired woman. Some could say that Enyo held onto the past far too much than any normal person would, but she had her own personal reasons. However, she managed to persevere through the hostility that continued to build up between Mars and Ares by constantly growling and knocking them about every now and then, much to the party's fourth member's amusement.

"Is it usually like this, Enyo?" the fourth member of the party, Kei, asked the blonde haired shapeshifter while carrying around a few bags full of paperwork and supplies as they crossed a road.

Enyo sighed and appeared to be unsure as to how to answer it, but eventually she found an answer to reply with. "Well, they were not like this during our childhood, in fact they were pretty friendly with each other. They were rather competitive when it came to fire breathing competitions and duels. You could say that they, as well as me, were the best of friends."

"Sod that!" both Mars and Ares exclaimed in anger, which only made the blonde haired War Goddess frown at the two of them as her eyes lit up with Anti-Energy. That settled the matter rather quickly; no one really wanted to piss Enyo off due to how she would resolve the issue.

This only made Kei more amused than before, as was evident from her uncharacteristic laugh. "This is just too amusing, way too amusing. I'm actually glad that you and Ares moved in, Enyo, it definitely is going to make my days much more enjoyable than before."

Mars, however, was not as amused as the silver haired Oracle was, in fact he was just plain grumpy with all of the arguing. Nevertheless, he decided to put up with it for Enyo, at least for now anyway; having to deal with his younger half-brothers constant whining and grumbling simply just got on his nerves. "If Enyo wants us to play nicely then so be it, I'll do my best. However, I promise nothing."

"And neither do I, even if I do respect Enyo immensely. Plus she's a cutie, so I can play," Ares declared in a rather cheeky manner, even going so far as to wink at the blonde haired shapeshifter, whose only response was to blush brightly and stand still in shock. She had never, ever, had a compliment like that before, at least not by Ares anyway.

It was during this situation that Kei nudged over towards Mars, both of them watching the confused Ares try to figure out why Enyo was stuttering as her cheeks burned bright red with a mix of embarrassment and nervousness. "Is Ares usually this dense when it comes to a woman's feelings towards him? I can easily tell that Enyo really likes him," the business-like woman asked the half-dragon next to her as she leaned in close to whisper into his ear.

"I guess so. I mean, Enyo told me that she's loved him for years, so I'm guessing that he's pretty bloody dense, especially for an idiotic bastard," Mars responded, confirming the Oracle's suspicions.

Ares, however, managed to overhear a bit of their conversation, specifically the part about being a 'idiotic bastard'; the steel-grey haired War God had been infamous back in Project Ares when it came to hearing insults about him from quite some distance. He turned around and glared at his older half-brother. "You what, matey boy? You say something about me?"

"And what if I did? I speak only the truth around here, Ares - nothing more, nothing less. Is there a problem with that?" Mars countered as he and his half-brother approached each other menacingly, their eyes starting to glow with Anti-Energy as their foreheads collided together. Soon enough though, after another minute of constant arguing and enraged bickering, Mars and Ares dropped what they were carrying and commenced a open brawl between each other in a mist of dust, Anti-Energy and even fire to some extent. It was frightening for many bystanders to witness, not to mention bewildering at the same time.

Kei managed to collect their fallen items and walk over to Enyo, who had recovered from her embarrassed shock to find that the man she loved and her other childhood friend were having a punching and kicking festival before her eyes. The silver haired Oracle leaned over towards the baffled War Goddess and whispered to her. "How do you plan to solve this issue, that is if you want to? I actually think this is rather comical. Maybe we can even turn this into a business opportunity, like a gambling ring or something."

Enyo glanced over at Kei, sighed and shook her head, making it obvious that she did not share the Oracle's enthusiasm in turning the fight into something profitable for the two of them to enjoy. "No, I don't like the sound of that. Instead I'll show you how I will deal with it, as I always had to deal with situations like this during our childhood."

The blonde haired woman walked up to Mars and Ares, who were now starting to get more vicious and dangerous in their struggle to teach each other a lesson, when suddenly Enyo firmly grabbed a hold of their heads and smashed them together, sending them both down to the ground in defeat. Kei seemed to be impressed with the sudden turn of events, as was proven when she nodded her head approvingly, although the Oracle still would have preferred to turn into something profitable. "Well, I guess that is one way to deal with the situation. Question now is, do we carry them back or do we wait for them to get back up?"

"I don't mind waiting, not to mention that they shouldn't take too long to get up," Enyo responded as she stood back with Kei, observing her handiwork with some pride. The Oracle raised an eyebrow to this. Eventually Mars and Ares did get back onto their feet, both of them rubbing their heads in pain. Enyo was ready to greet them. "Had a good sleep you two? Better stop your constant bickering, or else."

This seemed to do the trick; it appeared as if Enyo was more scarier than anyone had realised. With the matter settled, the group continued on with their trip back towards the Basilicom of Lastation, while Mars and Ares continued to silently bicker at each other whenever Enyo was not looking in their direction. As they got closer to their destination, the silver haired Oracle seemed to remember something. "Oh, by the way you three, did you hear what happened in Lowee earlier this morning during the dark hours of the day?"

"Something happened? Meh, doesn't matter to me, I don't pay much attention to the news," Mars responded apathetically with a dismissive wave of his right hand.

"Well as a matter of fact I am interested. What happened up there?" Enyo asked as they group turned round a corner past a flower store.

"A fire broke out in one of the suburbs of Lowee City, engulfing a few houses and destroying much property. Not only that, but there were several casualties, but only two were found dead," Kei informed the group as they continued on their way. "A man and a woman; they had a child according to some reports but could not find her. The woman was someone called Margaret, the man was the celebrated Toymaker of Lowee. No one knows if it was deliberate or on accident since there are no findings that can ascertain the truth."

Mars was hit pretty hard with the news when he heard that the Toymaker himself had died in the fire, in fact it only raised the young man's suspicions as he thought about it to himself. _It can't have been an accident, it just can't have been. Pelagius was once a member of Project Mars, so he could have known some secret information or something like that. Someone like Maximilian perhaps? Must've been._

The half-dragon was disturbed from his thoughts by Enyo, who sounded slightly worried for him due to his mixed expression. "Mars? Are you okay? Is something wrong?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah, I'm fine," Mars replied once Enyo had gained his attention. The rest of the trip back to the Basilicom was quieter than before on account of the devastating news, but it did at least help cease the constant bickering and arguing between Mars and Ares. Soon enough, however, all of that was about to change as they looked up at the sky. "Hmm? What's that? Hold on… That's the Goddesses up there, at least the senior ones anyway, judging from the faint smell down here."

"Is it? Huh. Wonder where they're heading to?" Ares wondered out loud as he stared up at the four flying CPUs as they headed to goddess knows where. "Let's ignore them and get back already, they can handle it."

Mars, Kei and Enyo, however, glanced at each other and silently agreed on disagreeing with the steel-grey haired War God, who took a short moment to realise their decision. He would have argued against it, but a stern look from the blonde haired shapeshifter's face did the trick. "Well, with that settled I suppose you three should follow the Goddesses, meanwhile I will take everything back to the Basilicom and get some information out of whoever is left there."

The young, brown haired man nodded a 'thank you' to Kei, gave her whatever he and the others were carrying and took off after the now disappearing images of the four senior CPUs of Gamindustri alongside Ares and Enyo. The three former members of Project Mars and Project Ares raced down the street as humanly possible, doing their best to avoid crashing into people or stationary object, which proved harder than expected whenever they ever attempted to run around with their Anti-Energy flaring up. After passing by several corners, running down many alleyways and pass by several streets, the three humanoid beings arrived outside an abandoned office building, at least it seemed to be abandoned anyway, yet it was in too good condition to be in that sort of status.

"Welp, let's head on in and see what the hell is going on," Mars said as he approached the front office door, which was jarred open; someone, or more likely a group of people, had already entered some time ago in a rush.

Mars, Ares and Enyo entered the building in different manners from each other, despite coming in the same way. Mars entered the building with both of his beretta handguns at the ready, his eyes and body faintly flaring with Anti-Energy and a wisp of fire. Ares smashed through the door with an excited bloodlust expression upon his face, his dark blue coat fluttering about due to his energy. Enyo merely walked in calmly, her eyes darting from area to area while her hands were in the pockets of her jacket. Different people, different approaches.

The three childhood friends walked down the dark corridors of the office building, ready for just about anything that could jump out at them. The place did seem to be abandoned, but according to Mars he could smell some people up ahead, all of them CPUs that he knew. Except for one person he could smell, which was unfamiliar and ominous, in fact it smelled rather metallic with human flesh inside it. A man in a robotic suit; it was something that Mars had never thought he would smell at all.

"You think those CPUs might be in here somewhere closeby? I sure can't tell if they are or aren't," Ares asked the group as he gazed into an empty room, finding nothing of interest in the slightest.

Suddenly a high pitched scream filled their ears, piercing through their very souls. It was worse for Mars and Ares, whose dragon hearing essentially made them better at hearing all manner of things. "What the bloody hell was that?!" Mars exclaimed as he shook his head, once he had breathed in and out a bit, his chest thumping more swiftly than usual for a number of reasons.

"That sounded like a scream," Enyo pointed out as she gazed off down the corridor from where the noise originated. "Let's check it out, it could be serious."

The scream blasted through the corridor again, this time it was continuous yet less loud than before. The group raced down the corridor, up a flight of stairs, pass by several unoccupied room until finally they arrived outside a room with a door slightly open, voices and embarrassed screaming could be heard from within the room. Mars, Ares and Enyo looked at each other, nodded and forced their way into the room, where they were all in for a surprise. Inside there was Noire, Neptune, Blanc, Vert and a man in a pink and purple robotic suit who sat on a chair behind a small desk covered in electronics; pictures of the twin-tailed Goddess and Mars littered the area above their heads. Noire was screaming with her hands by her face as she gazed from digitised picture to digitised picture, her cheeks burning a bright red. Ares and Enyo glanced at the young, brown haired man, who was starting to blush with the utmost embarrassment.

"Wow, never knew you were into this sort of stuff, Nowa. Same with Mars come to think of it," the iliac haired CPU of Planeptune said as she stared up at the pictures with amusement, when she suddenly noticed the newcomers. "Oh, hey there you guys, didn't notice ya at first. Hey, Mars, never knew you did this with Noire. Uni's gonna be jealous, ain't she?"

Mars, however, was stunned silent, even as all the other Goddesses turned their attention on him, Ares and Enyo. Noire, upon seeing the Fire Dragon of Lastation, merely became more embarrassed than before, as was shown when she looked down at the ground, fell down to it and wrapped her arms around her legs while her knees rested by her chin, to which Neptune then started to pat her back cheerfully. What also disturbed the half-dragon War God was the robotic suited man nearby, who was staring straight at him through his green coloured visor. Mars could not tell what the strange, robotic armoured man was thinking, let alone what he was doing with huge amounts of pictures involving all the cosplaying that he and Noire had done together. Nevertheless, Mars was not in a good mood due to what was going on, and he blamed the mysteriou, quirky, and apparently flamboyant robotic suited man before him.

"Well well well, what do we have here? Noire's groom? Oh my, how scandalous," the strange finally said as he now fully focused his attention on the young man, who glared back at him with eyes glowing blood red with Anti-Energy. This merely amused him. "Oh my, such savagery. I'm surprised that Noire here even likes you well enough to have revealed her secret hobby and convince you to partake in it, let alone Uni even loving you. Hmm, I wonder, should I upload all of these images onto the internet? Maybe I should, and I could get a large profit as well as enjoyment from it. "

The words cut deep into Mars, who merely responded with an enraged, inhuman growl while the rest of his body lit up with Anti-Energy, much to the chagrin Goddesses around him; even Ares and Enyo were getting highly concerned about what was about to happen next. What did happen, however, was what Norie did. Upon processing what the robotic suited man said, she stood up, growled and transformed into her HDD form with a furious look upon her face as she brandished her mighty, black and grey blade. "You… I'll kill you you bastard!" Black Heart yelled as she leapt after her target, who responded by backing off and throwing the digitised images of her and Mars cosplaying together at the group, who by now had gotten their weapons ready.

The pictures were, surprisingly, effective weapons for a distraction. The images dashed forward at Black Heart, Mars and the others as the pink and purple coloured robotic suited man grabbed an open box filled with cosplay pictures made a run for it - it was actually more of a float away to be exact. As he began to disappear down the opposite hallway he glanced back and waved before speaking. "Have no fear, my beloved Noire, I wasn't going to post them online anyway. It's better if I kept them to myself and replace that vile savage's face with my own. Ah, dreams. Oh, and we really should have a chat at some point, Subject 13. I really must know how you survived the destruction of Project Mars. I also want to know what it was like for you to bury your fallen inmates and make that solemn oath that you have yet to complete. Marvelous stuff. Well, toodle pipski! This is Anonydeath signing out."

Ares and Enyo, who stood back-to-back against the onslaught of flying digitised pictures, immediately heard what the robotic suited man had said, and both of them started to become concerned about what would happen next - Enyo more than Ares. _Damn you, Anonydeath, why did you have to say that? Now everyone is going to get suspicious about Mars, not to mention that he's just going to have nightmares about it._

As for the four Goddesses that were in the room, they were absolutely confused with what had been said, and whenever they could look at Mars then they did it in a questioning manner, even Black Heart would glance at the young, brown haired man with so many questions running through her mind, the most important question was trying to work out who he truly was and what his past was. Mars, however, was behaving just as Enyo had predicted. Sweat was pouring down his face, his expression appeared to be in pain, his limbs kept jiggling about as if they were in fright of something; he looked like a nervous wreck that was ready to fall apart.

Suddenly, the air around Mars burst into flame and blood red energy as he could no longer contain his rage. The young man pounced after Anonydeath, smashing anything in his way as he rushed swiftly towards his prey, his senses overtaken with a primal bloodlust that he had not felt for a long time. Mars quickly left behind Ares, Enyo, Black Heart and the others, who were getting the upper hand in their struggle with Anonydeath's distraction, and bounced around a corner to see his target attempting to escape to the backdoor located at the end of the hallway.

"No escape now, asshole," Mars uttered in a dragon-like tone as he lunged towards Anonydeath, who turned back to see a fiery red energy and flame encased young man about to collide with him.

"Oh come one," was all Anonydeath could say before the Fire Dragon War God of Black Regality smashed into him, his armoured neck getting grabbed by a energy encased hand while another punched right up against his chest. The impact made both men crash through the door and out into the open, skidding across the ground until they both stopped near a stone wall, but that did not stop the attack, instead it only seemed to increase Mars' savagery even more.

Mars rushed back over to Anonydeath, punched him across the face - which made a visible dent in the purplish-pink robotic helmet - thrusted him onto the paved ground and started to pummel his Anti-Energy and fire encased fists into the armoured chest of his fallen opponent, causing dent after dent, crack after crack, and the young man's attacks only became more ferocious as memories of his time in Project Mars plagued his mind, fostered by Anonydeath's words. Matters were only made worse when Mars struck down at the robotic suited man with such ferocity that blood was spilt, yet all that the young man could see was black and red, with nightmare images of his traumatic past replaying themselves before his very eyes. Mars was not even aware of what he was doing any more, instead he seemed to be under the control of his primal instincts and his subconscious.

This was the state of things that the CPU Candidates, as well as their older sisters, Ares and Enyo, encountered when they arrived on the scene. The Candidates had flown to the area to find out why their sisters left in such a rush, plus Uni wanted to help out Noire and Mars in any way possible. It was a huge shock for everyone, except Ares and Enyo to an extent, to see Mars pummelling Anonydeath into a bloody pulp; it was a miracle that the robotic suited man was even alive some thought to themselves.

"Mars! What the hell are you doing?!" Black Sister - as she was in HDD - exclaimed upon seeing the brutal display of ferocity. "Why are you doing this? Stop it! This isn't like you at all!"

 _Oh this is like him, just like him._ Ares thought to himself as he looked on with a nod of his head while keeping his thoughts to himself.

However, not even Black Sister's protest, nor the protests of everyone else, could stop Mars from his relentless assault upon the unfortunate hacker, who by now was unconscious, his armour rent, bloodied and dented from the punches that Mars had inflicted upon him. As the young man continued on with his assault his vision darkened and a painful feeling built up in his chest, spreading from his heart to the rest of his upper body. The half-dragon ignored the feeling of utter pain as well as the cries of his friends and continued his assault. He raised his arms up high to bring about a final, crushing blow that would end Anonydeath; the blow never struck its mark, in fact something else happened that shook everyone to their core for weeks to come.

The first thing everyone noticed was how Mars remained completely still, his arms unmoving from their raised position above his head, then came the immense sweat that poured down his face, finally the energy and fire around his body dissipated. The latter was the only good thing to happen. Suddenly Mars appeared to be in pain as he collapsed off Anonydeath and onto the ground, a hand clutching the area above his heart as his eyes seemed to bulge, his teeth chattering and his limbs quivering.

"Wh-What's going on with him?! What's happening?!" Black Sister exclaimed as she reverted back to her human form while rushing towards Mars, once by Mars the CPU Candidate of Lastation knelt down by her fallen half-dragon boyfriend boyfriend and almost burst into tears with what she saw. "What's happening to Mars? Can someone just frigging tell me already?!"

It was Vert who answered Uni's desperate questioning. "This situation sort of reminds me of a scene I watched in an anime a couple of months back. What I believe Mars is having is a heart attack, probably a fatal one judging from what I can see."

"Can't you do something about it?! Please?" Uni begged as she stared sternly at the tall, blonde CPU of Leanbox, who could only feel a jab of pain and guilt for not being able to help in a way she wanted to.

Black Heart reverted back to her human form and simply stared in shock at what was happening before her, her eyes unable to move away from watching Mars have his heart attack; she was close to breaking up in a fit of tears. Meanwhile, Blanc did her best to comfort her younger twin sisters, who were taken aback from what was happening to Mars. As this all happened, Nepgear rushed to her N-Gear and proceeded to call an ambulance from one of Lastation's hospitals that happened to be nearby, which fortunately was not too far away - roughly a couple of minutes at least. While the ambulance neared them, all that Uni could do was try to stop herself from crying while doing her best to hold Mars.

As for the young man himself, all he could still see was red and black, until finally his vision began to darken as his eyes closed, the pain becoming unbearable for him to try and overcome. It felt as if his heart was exploding after being stabbed several times with a jagged dagger. Over two and a half years of putting up with the occasional heart flutter and chest pain finally culminated in a deadly, painful and probably fateful heart attack. Before Mars fully closed his eyes and fall into an unconscious state all he could think about was the time he spent in Project Mars, all of the suffering he was forced through, until finally the only ray of sunshine was an image of Uni smiling brightly at him. Finally the young man's mind slipped into a cold, dead realm, and he neither heard nor saw anything else that day.

* * *

 **A/B: It's sure been a while since I last uploaded a chapter for this story, so please do forgive me for being tardy about it - had stuff that needed to be done alongside some personal issues as well. I don't have much to say, so I will keep this Author's Note part short. Now, updating time will be slower, and this means that my original schedule is completely thrown out of the window. Updates for this story, and just about every other story I am also working on every now and then will inevitably be updated at random times; some more than others from time to time if I'm focused and have some sort of a goal in mind. Regardless, if you have any suggestions, ideas, want to point out some corrections that I may have missed, or simply just want to comment your thoughts then feel free to do so. Have a good day if possible.**


	32. A Man with a Complex Persona

**Chapter 31: A Man with a Complex Persona**

Evening grew ever closer across Gamindustri as Ares made his way into the convenience store, shopping bags at the ready along with a carrying bag strapped to his back which he used for his job at the local downtown scrapheap for various purposes. At that moment the work bag was filled with spare electronic parts, pieces of scrap metal, tools, computer pieces and whatnot, all of which clunkered around in his bag as he moved about past people towards the different areas of the store. The convenience store itself was of a mild size, the outside walls were grey while the inside walls were coloured white, the ground had a light brown hard plastic floor covering that was firmly on top of a concrete floor. There were many aisles filled with large assortments of goods ranging from cooking items, different kinds of food from all over the country and abroad and drinkable liquids.

Ares entered the store through the sliding glass doors and looked around him with an expressionless gaze, his eyes falling upon different food items of interest, namely cheap wholemeal bread stacked onto a few small shelves around the minuscule bakery section of the store. The former star subject of Project Ares stared at the wrapped up bread with a deep look of longing in his eyes, in fact he was starting to look more like a man-child staring at a piece of delicious candy. Soon enough Ares lunged his right hand forward and snatched several loafs of bread, placing them swiftly into a black plastic basket he had snatched up beforehand after entering the store.

"Don't mind if I do," Ares mumbled to himself, a small grin growing across the corners of his mouth. Soon afterwards the young, grey haired man glanced around is surroundings quickly, noticing that most of the people nearby were looking at him, their gazes mixed with an assortment of different feelings and emotions, which ranged from wonder to confusion to even dissatisfaction. Ares took a quick look at them, shrugged his shoulders and returned to shopping for different kinds of bread - lately he had a hankering for bread ever since he scrounged through the Basilicom's kitchen pantry several days ago for something to eat.

Most people within the convenience store avoided Ares, most likely due to the dangerous aura that flew about him as he walked from aisle to aisle, searching shelf after shelf for something worth buying aside from bread. The young man could not blame them in the slightest, he knew he had that effect, even Enyo had told him about it from time to time, although Ares guessed that it could have also been because of his display of power back in Planeptune with his duel against Mars.

The blue eyed man hummed thoughtfully to himself as he looked at the cold section of of store, his eyes gazing at several rows behind glass doors that contained cartons of milk, including iced coffee and chocolate milk, which only made his mouth water. It looked as if he had a new craving aside from bread. After staring at the chocolate milk for a few minutes in pure mouth watering silence Ares opened the glass fridge door and quickly grabbed hold of two cartons of the chocolate milk that was available, then he proceeded to walk away down another aisle, although this time he had no idea what he was looking for. If anything caught his eye he would take a look, study it for a moment, then decide whether he wanted it or not - most of the time it was the latter.

After about ten to fifteen minutes of wandering about the convenience store, with no apparent luck in getting something else to buy aside from a few packs of batteries, Ares sighed, looked around him for a short moment then walked off towards a counter to buy his chosen products, which was manned by a woman with green short cut hair, a black vest with silver coloured buttons and name tag pinned above her left breast, a long-sleeved white shirt, and black pants and boots. She had a blank expression as Ares walked up to her with his basket full of chocolate milk, batteries, bread and a few other goods; she did not even blink upon glimpsing at him, unlike some other people had done previously.

"Hello, sir. Is this all for today?" the cashier asked as she began to scan the objects in a steady pace, her eyes keeping their gaze towards the small rectangular screen just below her view, which was located just above her scanning board. The woman by the counter seemed to be disinterested with the job at hand.

Ares grunted in a not-so-interested manner along with a shrug; he was not too keen on making conversation with the cashier. "Uh huh."

"Not much of a conversationalist are you?" the green haired woman asked as she placed the last carton of chocolate milk into a plastic bag to her right, her eyes glancing over at the young man for a short moment.

The dark blue coat-wearing young man shrugged at first before saying anything in response. "Meh, never liked talking too much, especially with people I don't know."

The cashier seemed to accept this quite well and nodded her head as an understanding expression grew upon her face, meanwhile she finished off scanning his items of choice and placing them into a separate plastic bag. Suddenly she stopped and looked back up at the steel-grey haired man, her eyes darting across his face and his clothes. A moment later her eyes widened as she recognised where she had seen him before. "H-Hold up, you're Ares, aren't you? The one that fought Mars back in Planeptune!"

"Seems like people are still going on about that. Yeah, I'm him. What about it, huh? Got a problem with me or something?" the young man asked in a less than friendly tone, which quite frightened the green haired cashier at first. Upon seeing this, Ares sighed and rubbed his temples firmly. "Ugh. Look, don't mind my grumpiness, I just don't like being reminded about it. Got it?"

"Uh… o-okay then, if you s-say so. I won't talk about it," the highly concerned cashier responded as she looked back at the two plastic bags to her right, picked them up and handed them over to the steel-grey haired man.

Soon afterwards Ares paid for his items, picked up the bags, nodded once in the woman's direction, then proceeded to walk out of the convenience store, which left some breathing space for the green haired woman. It was not as if she was completely afraid of the young man, but his mere presence had made her feel uncomfortable, as did some other people who had crossed his path, especially those who passed by him outside.

Despite these feelings bubbling around inside a few of the people he came across, Ares was not too bothered by it as he strolled around outside along the streets of Lastation, unsure as to where he wanted to go before heading back towards the Basilicom and put up with the depression that filtered the entire complex. Uni had been hit the hardest, and she spent most of her days either playing games by herself or reading a book in her room, all while keeping to herself most of the time when she was not visiting the unconscious Fire Dragon in the hospital.

Noire also appeared to have been hit hard by what happened with Mars, and spent much of her time trying to help Uni out with anything that came up, from paperwork to even consoling her from time to time, even going so far as to accompany her younger sister to the hospital to visit Mars. Vert, Nepgear and Enyo took the situation as best they could and helped out wherever they could, even though Enyo seem to fall into a state of depression at some point.

Ares, meanwhile, was feeling mixed emotions about the whole ordeal. It was true that on side of his internal argument he quite despised his older half-brother, who was by far a lot more better at just about everything, except when it came to fixing up gears and gadgets and anything mechanical. Then there was the other part of his mind that actually worried about Mars, silently hoping that he would make it through his current stable state in the hospital. The steel-grey haired man was not quite sure why he had two separate feelings towards the situation, but whenever he thought of it he felt as if there was something going on with his mind, something that would make psychologists drool to observe. Nonetheless, it did make him quite worried about what was going on with his personality, especially with all that had happened over the last few years with Project Ares and after it, not to mention all that had happened with his childhood.

As Ares turned a corner and looked down a street that led back down, he suddenly stopped in his tracks as he realised that he could not remember a whole lot about his childhood, save for a few fragments and a long memory that he held dear to him, but one filled with some hardship. Just remembering some of it made his mind grow darker, his vision red and his nerves started to jitter around. It took a minute or two for Ares to calm down upon remembering Enyo, once what was left of his old memories came flooding back. _Shit, she's right, I think I might be a bit crazy after all. What? No. No I can't be, that's just some damn crazy talk that Enyo and all those other bastards made up just to make pissed off. Again._

 _No, it can't be like that. Enyo usually has a point, even though she's pretty weird, emotional, irrational, bias and a whole bunch of other stuff. Still, she is pretty hot, and that does kinda make me go along with whatever she says from time to time, but only sometimes. Yeah, maybe she does have a good point about my mental state._

 _That isn't true! I don't care what she says about our… er, my mental state, there's no craziness or complete and utter blood-crazed madness going on with my mind and personality. There's nothing wrong with me. Nothing at all!_

 _Wait, why the frigging hell am I discussing this like I've got two minds talking to each other? That's just… I don't really want to think about it. Why the 'our' then 'my'? Sheesh. Although, come to think of it, I have been doing something like this ever since I had that Anti-Crystal forced into my heart a year back and had a whole bunch of that liquidized red energy stuffed inside me. Actually, I think this might've gone on for far longer than that, maybe back when I was a kid. Bloody hell, I must be a demented son of a bitch. Wonder why Enyo puts up with me if I'm really an ever growing mad bastard?_

Ares groaned to himself, shook his head, turned away from the alleyway and continue to walk on the street he was on, silently unsure as to where he was now heading. Originally he was heading back to the Basilicom, but now thanks to the recent argument he had with himself in his mind, which was making the young more than concerned over his mental health, Ares decided it was best to take a long walk around the city and find somewhere relaxing to rest for a little while. That was if Ares did manage to find a place to relax, let alone relax at all in a place that he still found to be unhomely - although he felt it quite difficult to consider any place as if it was his home.

After a further fifteen minutes of walking down the street he was on, the young man spotted a street sign indicating that there was a park up ahead, it would just take another couple of minutes to get here by walking down a different street nearby. It also happened to be one of only two parks in the entire city, so Ares was not spoiled for choice Nevertheless, it would take some time to reach the nearest park. _Bloody cities, why do they always have to be large, or just largeish? Ugh. Sheesh, I'd prefer to live in Leanbox or even Lowee than be here in a heavily based industrial city, or Planeptune for that matter._ Ares thought to himself with deep annoyance - he was definitely not a big fan of the cities and preferred the open spaces of the countryside, or at least the less industrialised cities of Leanbox and Lowee.

As Ares continued to walk down the street and saw the path that led in the direction of the park he heard some noises, young voices to be exact, and noticed five teenagers in an backstreet between two large apartment buildings. One, a young teen with cyan-blue shortcut hair and violet eyes who had a frightened expression, was crouched down on the ground with her hands held above her head in a defensive manner while the other four teens yelled verbal and physical abuse at her. It looked at least one of the four abusers was having a bit of fun. It was bullying, plain and simple. The steel-grey haired man gazed with narrowed eyes at the nearby scene, watching as the leader of the four bullies, another young teenager with long black hair and green eyes with a victorious grin, had her arms crossed while standing pridefully before the cyan haired girl.

"Ha! What're going to do, cry? Pah! You're weak, you damn weirdo. Go back to where you came from!" the black haired girl spat at the cyan haired girl, causing the other three to jeer at the unfortunate young girl as she started to cry. This, however, only encouraged the black haired girl to continue. "Aww, what's this, you're crying now? By Black Heart's grace, you're pathetic."

The cyan haired girl could not reply properly, instead as she tried to respond back to her abuser her words came out all blubbered and unintelligent, then she proceeded to hide her face behind her hands and continue on crying even louder than before. This did not stop the other four teens from what they were doing. "This is for being a twat, you freak!" one kid yelled as they began to beat her up.

"Yeah! This is for being a wood-lover, ya sicko!" another exclaimed as they joined in.

No one had spotted Ares down at the end of the backstreet, his eyes darting from kid to kid as they pounced on the cyan haired girl. The former subject of Project Ares was at first interested in just what was going on, but now he was bored and simply did not care about what was happening. After just another minute of staring Ares shook his head and walked off back down the street towards the park.

 _Whatever, it isn't my problem. People have to solve their own issues and not rely on anybody else for support the hard way - that's what I learned._ The young man reasoned with himself in silence as he continued to walk away from the scene. Then, all of a sudden, he stopped in his tracks. A memory, almost half buried deep in his mind, burst to life and played out before his eyes.

* * *

" _Ugh. Bloody Vedrahkaal, getting all of Dad's attention like that. Just what're they doing at the leader's hall, or whatever they call it? I hate them, leaving me all alone like that with nothing much to do, never telling me what they're all up to. And now Dad adopted that damn blonde girl who can't even speak to any of us without running away like a cry baby," the steel-grey haired boy grumbled to himself as he walked down a dirtied cobblestone path, his booted right foot kicking a jagged rock aside out of frustration._

 _The area that the young boy was walking around in was an open area of green short grass, little patches of trees dotted the landscape, a few small hills rose up around the area, as for the cobblestone path, that led through the area and straight towards a large pond where several recreational buildings and other locations could be found. Not a whole lot of them could have interested a kid though, especially such a troubled one as him. In fact, hardly anything seem to interest him aside from the occasional 'beat up the scarecrow' or 'beat up the straw dummy with a staff' games - an act which made his father quite concerned while his mother saw it as a sign of his inner warrior, no matter how savage it seemed to be._

 _The boy in question gazed around him once more before coughing into the dark blue sleeve of his shirt, or to be more specific a tunic that had been personally fixed up by someone to resemble more of a long-sleeved shirt that was more common to find far from where the young boy was living. Overall he found the style of clothing that people wore to be far from pleasing, in fact he hated dressing up in what he considered to be 'fancy clothes for something out of the books of legend'. Tunics of all kinds, fancy robes with gold and silver lining, and all manner of high class uniform that appeared to have come out of a fantasy movie did not mix well with the steel-grey haired boy._

 _The young boy continued on his unmerry way down the track until he reached one of the park buildings, it was then that he heard something out of the ordinary. A crying girl and several jeers of laughter, all of which was coming from behind the nearby building to the boy's right. Out of curiosity, and hoping that whatever was happening turned out to be rather interesting, he decided to take a look at what was happening. What he saw was quite a shock to see. What he saw was a young girl with short blonde hair that was dirtied by the ground around her, as was her fair skin face, who was getting bullied and beaten up by four other children around the same age as the steel-grey haired boy and the blonde haired girl._

 _The four kids were beating up the blonde haired girl, using their clenched fists and the bottom of their feet to pummel the young girl into the ground and up against the wall, pinning her there for a moment as they reveled in their victory, grinning away with glee. "Pathetic. You're already crying? Ha, you wouldn't catch any of us crying, that's for damn sure," the leader of the group, a young silver coloured haired girl, said with immense pride that it just seemed to irradiate off from her, especially around her ruby coloured eyes. It made the young boy wonder if it was even genuine, though he later guessed that it was._

" _Please… just l-l-leave me al-long already. What did I even to do deserve this?" the girl pleaded weakly, her voice cracking up from all the tears, frustration and fear that was happening to her at that moment._

" _Why? Because you aren't one of use, and you'll never be one either, you damn crow," the leader of the group responded harshly, her arms crossed before her chest while a look of disgust was upon her face._

 _It was then that one of the members of the group, a kid with scruffy red hair and a twitch to his right eyelid, looked over at the silver haired girl and rose the index finger of his right hand, gaining her less than attentive attention within seconds. "Um, actually, she's a raven, the last of them," the kid corrected the girl, much to her annoyance._

" _I know what the damn difference is, you idiot! You think I don't know what the difference is between a crow and a raven? Huh?!" the young girl answered back with a tone that seemed to shrill the souls of all who were nearby._

Clearly you don't know the bloody difference. Hah. Idiot. _The steel-grey haired boy though in response to hearing the young girl bark back at the red haired kid. After watching the bullying for a few more minutes, all while standing still with his eyes gazing at the blonde haired girl. It was then that he recognised her._ Wait, Enyo? Yeah, that's her alright, I can recognise that cowardly behaviour anywhere. Well what do I do now? I guess I should help her, then again what has she ever done for me? Nothing, that's what. She's useless. Yeah, I should just leave her be, let her figure out how to fight for herself for once.

 _With that in mind the young boy turned away and began to walk away back down the cobblestone path, leaving Enyo to her fate with the group of bullies picking on her, abusing the young green eyed girl physically and mentally all at the same time, this time with renewed vigour. The steel-grey haired boy did not seem to care all that much about what was happening to Enyo, even going so far as to scoff when he heard her whimper in pain. He simply did not seem to care at all. That was until he decided to look back, then his eyes met with Enyo's. The blonde haired girl's eyes were filled with fear, yet hope started to emerge as she saw the steel-grey haired boy in the distance, recognising him instantly. It looked as if her gaze was saying "please help me"._

 _The young boy stared sternly at Enyo, unmoving, unwavering, silent, uncaring. They looked at each other for what seemed like a lifetime before the young boy simply walked away towards the building and finally out of sight, leaving Enyo to her fate, as it would seem. The blonde haired girl, feeling rejected by one of the two boys she was living alongside with, could only break out in even louder tears of sorrow. "They don't care about me, none of them. Why am I even here then, just to suffer? If this is my purpose in life then I don't want to live. I should've been killed with the rest of my family," she muttered quietly to herself out of earshot from everybody else, her voice cracking up from all the crying._

 _Enyo's mood drastically changed, however, when suddenly a loud clunking and thumping noise could be heard coming from the roof of the building behind her where she had been pinned up against just a moment before. The group of abusing kids and Enyo looked upwards to see the steel-grey haired boy standing upon the roof, his arms crossed and his expression filled with anger as he stared at the group of kids. "Oi, what're you doing, you little skanks?" he asked in a demanding tone, unaware of what he was actually saying, he simply thought it meant idiot; fortunately for him the others thought the same as he did._

 _The ruby coloured eyed girl grumbled, scowled and pointed a finger at the boy in an attempt to be frightening, although all it did was just made the boy grunt in an unamused manner. "What are_ you _doing here, Sosruth? Wait, are you here to protect your itsy bitsy raven girl? Pathetic. You're a dragon, like the rest of us, not an outsider and foreigner like this one, or that human that your daddy had with him years ago."_

 _Sosruth cleared his throat and glared at the ruby eyed girl with even more anger than before, the rage swelling within him from all of her snide remarks. "Perhaps I should make this clear to you, brat: sod off or I'll beat you up until you look like a bowl of Miss Miggin's awful porridge._ Now. Get. Lost. _"_

 _Even at a young age, there was something not quite right with Sosruth. Everyone knew him as the younger half-brother of Vedrahkaal, who was a shy boy who was easily pushed around yet also happened to be the most approachable and the one who would come to the aid of anyone when needed, not to mention that he was always seen in the royal court with his father while some business was taking place between his family and the ruling royalty. A far cry from what was to happen to him in a few years time. Sosruth, in comparison, was the complete opposite to Vedrahkaal._

 _Bitter, moody, angry, quiet at times, outbursts of violent rage - all of these can and did describe Sosruth in a nutshell. There was just something unnatural about him, something genetically flawed with his mind. It could also be seen with his mother, who, despite being a dragon, was more or less a stranger to everybody else. It could be that something twisted happened to her or her family line that afflicted her family for generation after generation, and now Sosruth was the latest sufferer. Then again, Sosruth's mother was more reserved than her son was, so any sort of explanation was possible._

 _With all of this in mind, the group of bullies, minus the ruby eyed girl to some extent, were quite frightful of the steel-grey haired boy. As the rest of the group, even Enyo, shuddered as Sosruth spoke in his harsh tone, the ruby eyed girl responded back in a voice that resounded with authority yet quivered with fright, which was quite diminishing really. "Wh-Who are y-you to tell me that I'm a damn idiot? You can't even put two large numbers together without getting a headache. So who's the idiot here, huh?"_

 _This did little to put Sosruth in a good mood, as was evident with the way he glared at the young girl. The group slowly began to back off, that was until the young ruby eyed girl glared back at they, stopping them in their tracks. They had no idea who to fear more, Sosruth or the ruby eyed dark purple haired girl, or both when the situation warranted it. Then came a silent moment of glaring between Sosruth and the dark purple haired girl, the tension in the air growing ever more unsettling as what was for the kids essentially to goliaths going head-to-head with each other, neither wanting to back down, even though one was somewhat frightened of what could happen._

 _Then all of a sudden the silence was broken, as was the unmoving glares of Sosruth and the ruby eyed girl. The steel-grey haired boy jumped down from the roof and pounced at at the young girl, landing the first blow by punching his right fist against her face, sending her to the ground with such force that she started to bleed out of her nose. It was broken, that much was obvious to the kids once the ruby-eyed girl rolled over to reveal her bloodied face. She let out a whimpering noise for a moment before breaking out into a enraged growl while climbing back onto her feet, but before she could get back onto her feet Sosruth lunged back at her, grabbing the young girl by the scruff of her neck and repeatedly punching her in the gut._

 _It was shocking for the kids to witness to say the least, but knowing that fact did little to stop them watching the fight unfold, not to mention that it was getting somewhat exciting now that they realised it was not one sided, as they were about to witness. As Sosruth grabbed the ruby-eyed girl and picked her up, she in turn found the strength to kick the boy in the gut and smash her elbows into his head. Once they fell to the ground and Sosruth rolled around in pain, the young girl crawled over to the steel-grey haired boy and begun to continuously beat him up across his face and chest with clenched fists._

 _The adrenaline could not last forever, however, for the ruby-eyed girl was already starting to get worn out due to her injuries, not to mention that she was hardly a fit person, for the young girl was more of a talker and a thinker than a person of action. Sosruth was very much the exact opposite, which was the only advantage he had over everybody in his age group. The steel-grey haired boy caught the young girl next punch with his left hand, squeezing her right fist until his nails began to dig into her flesh, making her cry out in pain before she was clobbered across the face with the boy's free right wrist. The force of the punch threw her back onto the ground, this time with Sosruth on top of her with an expression that chilled everyone to their very soul._

 _The young boy's expression looked as if something, or someone, was in control of his facial muscles as well as his actions. His grin was just too wicked to be natural, his movements were savage, even for a child of the Dragon Clan, and his eyes were crazier than any bloodthirsty maniac's eyes could be. Sosruth then repeatedly smashed his fists against the young girl's face, blooding her flesh, bruising her eyes and, most tragically from her point of view, messing up her lavishly traditional fancy hair. She was powerless to stop the steel-grey haired boy from nearly bashing her skull in. It would have ended horribly for the ruby-eyed girl had it not been for the one bystander that had been greatly abused, beaten up and shamed more than anyone else._

" _Sosruth! Stop it already! You've gone too far with this, so just stop it! Please, for me," Enyo cried out to the steel-grey haired boy, begging for him to stop before things got too ugly. Suddenly Sosruth stopped his assault just as his clenched right fist was about to collide with the silver haired girl; Enyo's words had broken through to the surviving ability of reason within the boy's mind._

 _Sosruth began to pant heavily for air, his gaze calming down from an enraged blood-crazed maniac look to a grim and pained expression. After taking a deep breath in and out the steel-grey haired boy closed his eyes and shook his head for a moment before stepping back onto his feet, his arms back by his sides as he stood straight with his unnerving gaze directed at the young, bloodied girl. When he spoke his words were cold. "Go, now, before I change my mind."_

 _The young girl and her group took Sosruth's words to heart and rushed off after the group had helped their leader back onto her feet, buyt before they disappeared back down the track the ruby-eyed girl stopped and looked over towards the steel-grey haired boy, her eyes glaring viciously at him for a moment. "You… I'll get you for this, Sosruth! Someday!" She then ran off with the rest of her group, disappearing from sight._

 _Once they were gone, the steel-grey haired boy felt Enyo tap him in the left shoulder, causing him to turn around to face her. She was looking a lot more cheerful than before, which inadvertently made the young boy feel quite relieved, although he was not completely sure why at all. Nevertheless, he did have to admit that it was good to see her still in one piece. "Nice to see you're okay and all, Enyo," Sosruth said as he stretched his arms out. "But couldn't you have taken care of yourself? Are you really that weak?"_

 _The blonde haired girl's expression simmered down after that question, for she did feel weak, not only that but unwanted, pathetic and all manner of negative emotions all at the same time. Sosruth noticed this, but did not seem to care all that much, at least somewhat anyway. Enyo looked away shyly at the ground and rubbed her left arm lightly, unable to gaze at the boy. "Back when you saw me try to whisper out to you, you thought about abandoning me, didn't you?" she asked hesitantly while wiping her eyes with the ruff of her sleeve._

" _Yeah, I did," the steel-grey haired boy admitted as he scratched the back of his neck. The tone of his voice did seem to indicate that there was a hint of regret with what he had originally thought before he had helped Enyo._

" _Then why did you come back to help me?" she then proceeded to ask._

 _Sosruth seem to hesitate with his answer, unwilling to say anything regarding his change of decision to help Enyo instead of leaving her to be beaten up. Eventually, however, he caved in and told her the reason behind his change of heart. "Well to be honest, I changed my mind because of the way you looked at me with those pitiful eyes. It just sorta… I don't know, but whatever it did to my brain it sure helped you out. What did you do, raven magic or something?"_

" _Pfft, hardly," Enyo scoffed, although she did sound a lot more cheery than before, which was something of a silent relief to Sosruth, yet his smile gave away his thoughts. The young boy quickly realised this when the blonde haired girl giggled, her smile widening with every passing second. "Heh. Guess I got to know you a bit better; sounds like there's always something good in everything that happens around here, especially if you're around, Sosruth. So, um, th-th-thank you for wh-what you did, just… just please don't go overboard like that again."_

 _The young boy started to grin in a way he had not done so before: he was grinning in a playful manner. It made the dark green-eyed girl blush ever so slightly, and her cheeks only glowed reder when the young boy spoke. "I ain't like those other dragons; I'm nothing like them. I'd sooner kill them all than be like the or be a part of their socei… socii... society. Well then, guess you'll have to look out for me if you don't wanna have another fight like that, or to let a bloodbath break out. So, you want to hang out? You'll be looking out for me, being with me, and probably looking at me as well. Interested?"_

 _It was a proposal that Enyo had not been expecting, in fact she thought that Sosruth would just tell her to keep an eye out for any upcoming bullies, not watching over him like a companion on the battlefield or a fellow spy, or whatever the young girl could think of. She simply stared at Sosruth with an uncertain expression, her cheeks blushing bright red. Finally she spoke her answer. "Well… o-okay th-then, doesn't sound all th-that bad," Enyo responded in a stammering tone, her eyes darting from the young boy to the ground constantly._

 _The steel-grey haired boy grinned once again and stuck up his right thumb in a salutatory manner. "See? It'll be all good from here on out. Just stick with me and you'll be fine. Got it?"_

 _Enyo nodded, her mood lightening up even more than before, she even began to break out laughing in a cheerful tone, which brightened up Sosruth ever so slightly. After a minute of this, as well as some sniggering and staring with some silly looks, the blonde haired girl sighed, scratched her head and stared at the young boy in front of her, who stared back at her with a confused gazed. "Hmm? What's the matter, do I have something on my face? Is it blood? If so then I'm leaving it there," Sosruth asked in his usual stern tone of voice, although his comment about the possible splatter of blood on his face did make Enyo feel quite uncomfortable and only reinforced what she was thinking._

" _W-Well, it's just… um, are you insane?" she asked hesitantly and with a bit of fear in her voice, it was even in her expression, and she had good reason to be quite afraid, for she vividly remembered what happened to the ruby-eyed girl not too long ago. As expected, Sosruth began to glare at her with a less than savoury look. An explanation was needed, and quickly. "I-I-I m-mean, it's just that you seem kind of… well, different every now and then. Like, you're calm one moment then you become some sort of enraged demon the next. I just thought that you were… mad in the head."_

 _The blonde haired girl was surprised when Sosruth did not say anything, instead he remained silent, stuck deep in his own thoughts about what Enyo had just told him. To him it was something that had never crossed his mind, he had considered his 'unique' persona, or personalities it would seem, to be completely normal - until now that is. For all he knew, it was just all one part of a complex persona that he had yet to fully understand. However, Sosruth was not too sure what to think about it all after processing the girl's words, but eventually he had to say something - something honest._

" _Well… does it matter at all? I'll have you looking out for me, right?" Sosruth responded, his worries about Enyo's words dying away as he spoke to her in a reassuring manner. Despite the gladness that bubbled within her, Enyo knew to be cautious and truly look out for the young boy, for there was definitely something not right with his mind._

" _Yeah, I'll have to look out for him and help when needed, but I'm sure I'll just be a burden to him. Maybe," Enyo muttered to herself, unaware that Sosruth heard her, although he did not show it visibly. Instead he chose to ponder about it silently, realising that there was more to Enyo than meets the eyes, mentally at least. However, he was not quite sure what he should do or figure out what could be happening with her, so the boy decided to leave the topic alone. It was time to focus on the moment._

" _Meh, whatever. C'mon, let's go get you cleaned up, you look awful when you're dirty and bloodied like that, then we can go adventuring or something, or whatever you want I guess," the young, steel-grey haired boy said to Enyo. It was the start of a long-standing friendship that would be tested again and again, but both would stick to their promises no matter what, even when Sosruth would become utterly engorged with his hatred or whenever he was dwelling on his most darkest thoughts, Enyo would always be there to help combat the bloodlust and madness within him._

* * *

The memory, as well as the guess of what happened on that day with all of his thoughts of it all, shimmered away back into the deepest part of his mind. It was not often that Ares was able to remember something from his past; his time in Project Ares had seen to that well enough. There were large gaps in between certain events that he could actually remember, which made it difficult to figure out which event started and another ended, but that specific memory of his and Enyo's younger selves finally cementing their friendship never disappeared, but instead was buried deep within mind.

The young man sighed and shook his head as a swath of different emotions swamped his mind, the most burning one of all being nostalgia. Then came pity. Pity for the young teenager who was being bullied in the alleyway. Ares grunted to himself in a bestial manner, rubbed his temples roughly then proceeded to race back towards the backstreet alleyway.

Meanwhile in the backstreet, the physical and mental abuse continued to be inflicted upon the cyan-blue haired girl. The teenager with the long black hair and green eyes continued to stand triumphantly before the fallen, abused violet eyed girl; a victorious grin spread across her face. It looked as if she got her point across. "Now then, remember this, wood-lover: keep your disgusting hobby away from us and everybody else around here, otherwise there's gonna be more pain in it for you. Got it?"

No words were spoken in response, only muffles crying and coughing from the badly beaten violet eyed girl as she continued to lay on the ground, surrounded by the group who had thrown her there roughly. All she could so was look up at the faces that jeered down at her, then proceed to gaze downward at the tear stained ground. Her lack of a response made the domineering black haired teen more than a little annoyed, in fact she was getting pissed off. The young, black haired teenager cracked the knuckles of her right fist, grumbled to herself and stepped forward towards the grounded girl, her group standing aside for what seemed to be either yet another rough blow or a stern interrogation. Neither would happen, at least for the depressed and beaten cyan haired girl.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you, little bitch," a harsh toned voice spoke from high above the group. The boys and girl on the ground looked upward swiftly to see the owner of the harsh voice: it was Ares, although the teens did not know that as of yet. The young man had the hood of his dark blue coat covering most of his head, leaving only the flicks of steel-grey coloured hair fluttering about his forehead, his piercing blue eyes and his stern expression to be seen. The blue eyed man was crouching down on a steel railing that was connected to a series of platforms and ladders that led up and down the side of the building to different sections of the building's levels.

The group did not expect anyone to show up without warning, quite the opposite in fact. It was quite discomforting for the young teenagers, even for the young cyan haired teen on the ground. Nevertheless, no matter what was going on with the group and their minds, all could silently agree on one single fact: they were becoming really afraid. The black haired leader of the bullying group did her best to put on a brave face, which Ares thought was quite admirable but foolish; he knew well enough that there was nothing that she could do that could harm him in the slightest.

"H-Hey, who the hell are you?! Wh-What're you doing here, mister?!" the green eyed teenager demanded to know as she jabbed a finger at the young man's direction; she appeared to be in a more aggressive mood than before, and her expression showed it as well. "Well answer me already, you wanker!"

However, Ares did not seem to care in the slightest. He sighed disappointingly and shook his head, his cold stare glaring straight at the girl who spoke to him just beforehand. "Dear or dear, did you kiss your mother's asshole and stick your tongue in with that mouth? Well, looks like I have to teach you some manners, that is if you keep on with this bullying of yours."

"What's it to you, huh?" came the annoyed response. "What do you want with this wood-lover freak? You're a relative of hers? A friend? Her boyfriend perhaps? Maybe something else? Or are you another wood-lover freak? If so then get outta here while you still can."

Ares shook his head, his curiosity about what a 'wood-lover' was supposed to mean was not up on the top of his priority list. Instead, since it seemed that no one recognised him he thought it would be rather 'fun' to play with their fears. The steel-grey haired man chuckled, smiled and resumed his gaze at the young black haired teen, yet his eyes darted from person to person as he spoke "Why no, I'm not any of those, nor am I close to them. But I _am_ something… unnatural."

Suddenly his eyes flared up with Anti-Energy, as did the palm of his right hand, creating a deadly blood red flame of energy that fluttered dangerously around; his amused smile growing into a wicked grin. It was unsettling to see, and what made it even worse was the dreaded aura that just seem to radiate off from him; it was just too unnatural and frightening for most of the kids to endure within seconds. Even the cyan haired teen grew pale, shivered with fear and crawled away to avoid the inevitable confrontation between the prideful black haired girl and the dreaded Anti-Energy wielding young man.

He seemed to me more like a predator eyeing his prey, sizing them up in his mind before making a strike. The red energy started to glow furiously around his body, the steel railing going so far as to start smoldering from where his feet were. The group silently had mixed emotions on what to do. The black haired leader, while being afraid of what could come, wanted to show her worth; most of the others simply wanted to get the hell out of the backstreet. All of a sudden, when it looked like nothing could get worse, it did. As it looked like Ares was about to make a move, a small stone-like piece of rock, which most likely came from a broken piece of brick, flew upwards and almost smacked straight into the young man's face. Ares managed to catch it at the last second, his gaze then darting down to the boy who through it.

"You shouldn't have done that," Ares said in a cold tone that chilled the boy's spine to the core as he shivered in fear, not knowing whether the steel-grey haired man would leap down and rip him asunder with his power or taunt him and his group of friends even further. Either of those two events would have spelt disaster for the group of bullies. What happened was neither of them, but what did actually happen did frighten the group, including the black haired teenager.

Ares shattered the piece of broken brick into smoke using his Anti-Energy, leaving only dust that flew into the air, never to be seen again. The young man then proceeded to rain down flaming bolts of Anti-Energy upon the group, scorching the ground, all while giggling to himself for one reason or another. He never managed to strike down any of the teens with his Anti-Energy, although that would have been intentional from the start; more fear and less bloodshed.

The tactic worked like a lucky charm blessed by a powerful goddess, for the group quickly began to disperse, leaving only the back haired girl behind, frightened yet enraged at her companions for abandoning her to the unpredictable machinations of Ares. She darted her head around to see that the only people left in the backstreet were herself, the cyan haired teen and Ares, then with a petrified expression she looked upwards at the steel-grey haired man, who was looking down at her with a grin.

"What're you gonna do now that your backup has run off, eh?" Ares asked menacingly before he leapt down to the ground, the Anti-Energy around his feet creating cracks in the ground as he landed right in front of the black haired teenager. It was a question that could not be answered all that well, at least not by words anyway.

The black haired girl was powerless against Ares, and she knew it. The steel-grey haired man was, in her mind, a monster out of the old fantasy books she read, and it was easy to see why. Thanks to the Anti-Energy that flowed through Ares it looked as if he did indeed resemble some sort of demon, what with all the red energy that wrapped itself around his body like a blood coloured candle flame. His expression turned monstrous as he leered over the black haired teenager, his statute appearing to grow even more than before while she felt as if she was shrinking. It did not take her long to back away and finally break out into a full-on run out of the backstreet and back out into the main part of the city, tears running down her face from all the fear that had built up within her.

With the group of bullies now gone the cyan haired girl was more than afraid of what was going to happen next. Was she the real main target? Did he came here for her because she was a 'wood-lover', as the group described her beforehand? It was something that she did not want to know, but it looked inevitable that something was going to happen to her once he turned around. However, the cyan haired girl was to be quite surprised with what happened next. Instead of turning around to face the young teenager and subject her to even more fear and horror, the red energy inflaming the young man died away, leaving Ares appearing to be quite tired as he slouched forward.

"Ugh, glad that's finally over. Now I _really_ need a shot of that chocolate milk I got," the steel-grey haired man muttered to himself before cracking his neck, which made him sigh with relief. "Ahhh. Now then, did I leave the shoppin' bag on that railing or somewhere else nearby? Shit, should've kept a closer eye on the damn thing. If it's stolen I'll kill the bastards who took it. Probably."

Ares seemed to have basically forgotten that the young cyan haired teenager was just a few feet away on the ground, although if he did actually knew she was lying there he simply did not care to show that he knew. At least at that moment anyway. Nevertheless, the bloodthirsty aura that had surrounded the young man was now gone, which eased the young teen's mind and body; he appeared and sounded to be a lot more harmless than before. Mildly at least for the time being.

The cyan haired teenager slowly stood up, wiping her face clean of the blood splatters that were there and faced Ares, who was still standing with his back to her. It took a short moment for the young teen to gather the courage to gain the young man's attention. "Um, e-excuse me, s-sir, are you… okay?"

Ares mumbled something unintelligent to himself, stretched his back out and then turned around to face the cyan haired teenager. His expression was a dull look with hardly any life in it, which in comparison with his enraged bloodthirsty expression was a lot better to gaze at; if it was the other way round then the teen knew that she would probably have ran off already. It did not take too long for Ares to respond to the shy teen's question. "Hmm? Yeah, I'm all good. What 'bout you, though? You holding up?"

The violet-eyed girl nodded before brushing her cyan-blue haired bangs out of the way of her eyes. "Y-Yeah, I'm okay. Um… th-th-thank you for making them go away, m-mister."

"No problem. I know how to deal with bullies like them, have been dealing with crap like that ever since I was a kid," Ares responded, appearing more generous than before, his expression lighting up ever so slightly. To the cyan haired teen it seemed as if Ares was sympathetic towards her, which eased her mind greatly, making her feel more comfortable.

 _He's dealt with bullies before? That must be why he's so good with dealing with bullies like those people from before, and why he feels dangerous and weird. So cool!_ At least that was what she felt right at that moment. As the steel-grey haired man started to walk back towards the wall behind the young teen where the railing was located twenty-ish feet up off the ground - judging from the teen's view anyway - she slowly walked up to Ares and shyly spoke to him. "S-So… um, is that why you helped me with those guys?"

"Huh? Oh, nah, that wasn't the reason why I helped ya; was actually going to leave you there to fend for yourself," Ares replied before his Anti-Energy to leap off the ground, kick himself off different parts of the wall before finally reaching the sidewall railing and recovered his shopping bag. It was a response that the cyan haired teen had not been expecting; it truly disheartened her and simply made her more depressed than before.

"Then… then why did you help m-me out if you didn't care?" she asked depressingly, her gaze falling to the ground as she spoke. The hope and joy that had been building up within her was crushed in an instant.

The answer that the violet-eyed was to receive from the seemingly disinterested Ares surprised her. After rummaging through his shopping bag for the chocolate milk for a moment he looked back at the young teen and stared at her. "Well, to tell you the truth, all that bloody abusing and whatnot kinda reminded me of something I witnessed years ago when I was a kid. Felt like history was repeating itself, except I didn't get to beat them up, and I didn't save a girl that I cosntantly joked to about asking her out to make her annoyed. Pity, I wanted to get some exercise that wasn't just walking around and getting pissed off with passerbys."

It was an interesting response for the cyan haired teen to hear, at least from her point of view anyway. She stared at Ares with eyes filled with wonder, a dozen thoughts swimming through her mind, all of which was focused on the steel-grey haired man before her. The teen's constant staring made the young man feel quite uncomfortable; the only people who ever stared at him in such a way were Enyo and his abusers in Project Ares. He stared back at the cyan haired teen as he drank his chocolate milk slowly, his eyes locked with the teen's.

 _The hell is she looking at me for? Did I say something fuckin' ridiculous again? Wouldn't be the first time that's_ happened. Eventually, after what felt to be a long time of staring at each other without uttering a single word, Ares broke the silence by sighing deeply and grumbling some words to himself. "Look, kid, I don't wanna be too rude to ya, but can you just bloody stop staring at me? It's making me want to poke my fingers into your eye sockets."

"Oh, s-s-sorry, m-mister! I-I didn't mean to make you angry or anything!" the violet-eyed teen responded hastily as she backed off and flailed her hands nervously for some reason or another, her eyes widened with fear.

Upon seeing this the young man sighed and shook his head before roughly rubbing his forehead. "Ugh. Look, I'm sorry for frightening you like that, but constantly staring at me isn't going to solve your problems."

"Y-Yeah, I guess so," came the unenthusiastic response from the cyan haired teen, who looked away from Ares and gazed towards a nearby wall.

There another moment of awkward silence, this time neither the violet-eyed or Ares were staring at each other, instead one was glancing at a nearby wall while the other one was finishing off his chocolate milk with great enthusiasm. Once that was over and done with, the young man sighed with relief and took in the sweet sensation of the remnants of his chocolate milk running down his gullet into his stomach, leaving an aftertaste that made him want more. Nevertheless, he knew it was time to move on, otherwise he was going to be stuck in the backstreet for goodness knows how long. "Look, kiddo - or miss, or whatever you want to be called - I need to get going now. Take better care of yourself now, okay?"

The young teenager seemed a little disheartened with the news, but took it well enough despite it being obvious that she wanted the opposite of that outcome. Regardless of it all, the young teen stepped away and walked back out onto the main street, stopping only to turn back once to glance at Ares for a few more seconds before disappearing down the street behind some buildings. The steel-grey haired man was finally alone as he wanted it to be, yet it felt hollow, for he knew that the cyan haired teen needed help, just as Enyo had needed his help all those years ago. He also never got to ask what wood-lover meant either. The young man sighed, shook his head then got back to walking in the general direction of the park once again.

 _Meh, she'll be fine, at least she will be okay after some time, if she's lucky to avoid those bastards. Yeah, she'll be alright. Besides, people should look out for themselves, not rely on others to do the job for them._ Ares thought to himself as he continued on his merry way towards the park, his expectations on it being devoid of human life, peaceful and spaceful enough to fix up some of his spare electronic parts that he was fiddling with to create a new personalised wrist computer.

It was not the first time he had tried to play around with a wrist computer, in fact he stole the prototype of the very first wrist computer many months ago when he was still in Project Ares. Where the machine was right at that moment was beyond him. Still, it was proving to be a useful hobby, not to mention that he almost had all of the components he needed in the dumps of the job commonly referred to as 'Junk Town'. Ares guessed that if he managed to finish his wrist computer - and it had a long way to go before it even looked like something that could be used - then he could very well earn a fortune. The simple thought of rolling around in credits brought a goofy grin to his face.

 _Ahhh, that would be great. If that happens then I can settle down and continue with making 'em, hopefully with Enyo as a helper. Would have to think of a name for the device, though. Just calling it 'wrist computer' doesn't sound as cool._ The young man continued to think as he passed by several people walking in his opposite direction, some of whom appeared to be couple enjoying a day out in the so-called 'Steampunk City'. The steel-grey haired man took great effort to avoid these passerbys by straying away from them when they walked too close. However, Ares could sense something, or rather someone, eyeing him from not too far away, although he could only catch a few glances at a pair of eyes staring at him. _Oh, great, now I have a stalker. Fuckin' fantastic. They better not annoy me._

It took almost another ten minutes of constant walking down the street before Ares finally arrived at his destination; it was not completely to his liking. The park was rather small, not to mention that there were dozens upon dozens of people wandering around together as families, couples, friends and loners with nothing better to do. It was a disappointing scene for the young man. He shook his head as a look of "Tch. Should just head back to the damn Basilicom; have better space there to do whatever I want to do there, whenever those bastard CPUs, their sketchy Oracle and Mars stay out of my way."

The young man strolled down the cobblestone path, passing by people without batting an eye at them. They did not seem to care much about his presence; a few, though, looked at him with snobby gazes. A simple glare from Ares quickly changed their attitude, and the direction they were originally walking in. After a few minutes of straying around with nowhere appearing to satisfy him, the steel-grey haired man sighed in annoyance and was about to head back to the Basilicom, when suddenly he heard some twigs snap not far from him. Ares swiftly turned his head in the direction of the sound and flashed out his Anti-Energy, ready to send bolts of death in the sounds direction if need be.

"Who's there?! Show yourself!" Ares demanded in a harsh tone, his gaze glaring in the general direction of the sound. He was about to go over and check it out, due to not wanting to cause a larger scene than the one he was already starting, when suddenly the cause of the twig snapping came out from hiding behind an enclosed space of trees. It was the cyan haired girl from earlier, and she was looking quite nervous upon seeing the Anti-Energy fizzling around the palms of his hands. "You again? What're you doing here following me?"

It took around a minute for the cyan haired to reply, even though Ares calmed down and lowered his hands, which did manage to create a more harmonious situation to some extent. She twiddled her index fingers together and uttered some sort of untranslatable humming noise while blushing, her eyes darting back and forth from Ares to the ground below her feet. "W-W-Well, I just… I didn't really have a l-lot to do," was the young teen's shy and drawn out reply.

"You sure 'bout that? You look around… oh, 'bout thirteen at least. Don't you have parents to go home to and bother with your bullying crisis? They can fix that up somewhat, if they aren't… weren't drunkards and mental assholes, like some people I knew," Ares asked the young teen as he walked up to the closest tree to her left, leaning up against the trunk and sliding down until he sat on the grassy ground. His words sounded as if it was filled with a deep and personal grudge against someone, or some people, that he once knew.

Regardless, Ares seemed to be in a more relaxed mood than before and was open to a personal conversation, so the cyan haired teen told herself. She was pretty well right, since the young man was curious as to why she had trailed him to the apparently disappointing park. What the steel-grey haired man got for a reply was quite saddening. "I... I don't have any parents, n-not anymore. They're... you know, gone."

"Dead, eh? Shit, that's gotta be tough," Ares mumbled, feeling pity for the violet-eyed girl beside him as she sat down near to his position by the large tree. "So you live with any relatives? 'Cause lone orphans don't last long by themselves, if you haven't read the news articles that dote the four nations."

The young teen nodded her head as she brushed some dirt off her frilly white shirt. "Uh huh. I live with my uncle and auntie, but we... d-don't, um, what's the word... ah! W-We don't see eye-to-eye. That's it, yup. Th-They don't really get me, and I'm, kinda, af-fraid to ask them anything."

"So that's why you kept getting bullied, is that it? Can't get your guardians to figure out a way to stop the idiots?" Ares asked, to which the cyan haired teen nodded sadly. It made the young man remember his childhood and the problems that beset it, and the issues that arose afterwards. He sighed and gazed away from the young teen, his gaze falling upon the now clear evening sky above them. "I know how you feel, kiddo. I still had my parents around when I was a kid, but they were next to useless, well, aside from my mother when she wasn't being a complete ass to people around her. But they were next to useless when it came to dealing with all those bullies that abused me and my... friend. She had a hell of a problem with those bastards."

The young teen was somewhat uncomfortable with the amount of swearing that Ares said whenever he spoke; she decided to let it slide, though. However, was quite interested with this woman that Ares spoke of, now that they were in a friendly zone with each other. "Who's this p-person you protected when you were kids? You're girlfriend, mister?"

"Pfft, hardly. I mean, I like her and all, but we're just friends. Besides, whenever something, um, 'romantic' kinda happens we just shrug it off. Also I ask her out as a joke, just to piss her off for fun," Ares responded wistfully, a loving smile growing upon his face. It did not last too long, though, and was soon replaced by a grim look. "Come to think of it, she's been a bit clingy lately, thought not sure why. Oh, by the way, you can call me Ares."

"I know who you are, mister. I w-watched the Colosseum f-fight from the TV at home. I c-couldn't believe it when you and Mars appeared as dragons and destroyed the whole p-place. It was so cool!" the violet-eyed teen responded, the excitement in her voice slowly rising with each passing word. "B-By the way, you can call me... uuuuuhhh... C-C-Cecilia. Th-That's my name, Cecilia. I'm a... uh, dryad. That's why people call me a 'wood-lover'. All I did was show off a bit of wh-what I could do, then they... well, you saw. I thought they were my friends. N-Now I really am a freak."

 _I'm cool? She's a dryad? The bloody hell is a dryad? Wait, that's some sort of forest spirit, right? Yeah, that's what they are, I think._ Ares raised an eyebrow, surprised with the sudden news. It made sense now. "A dryad, huh? So you're a part of... what're they called, um, Great Clans, right?"

Cecilia nodded. "Uh huh. I don't kn-know a lot about it, though, since my mum and dad never told me too much. I think there are a lot more d-dryads up in Lowee where I come from, and I think down in Planeptune as well. Are you one of them too?"

"Yeah, I guess so. I only heard about all this clan business from Enyo – that's the woman I told you about. She's a clan member, too, plus she knows a lot more about the whole thing than some random book Mars got from an old dusty bookstore in Planeptune," the steel-grey haired man replied as a small flock of birds passed over them and into the large space of trees. "Still, clan member or not, you've got a lot of problems that a single bloodline and help you with."

"Then… um, c-can you, you know, help m-me deal with my problems?" she asked nervously while twiddling her index fingers together, her eyes darting back and forth from Ares to the ground, her cheeks blushing bright red from all the embarrassment. It was easy to tell that the cyan haired teen was incredibly shy and sensitive; it was rather cute to witness really. The teen was quite surprised with herself for even asking such a question to a person she barely knew all that well, although she did recognise that the steel-grey haired man was indeed Ares and knew that he was strong, and that made him cool in her book. _This is embarrassing, I shouldn't have asked him to help me with fending off those bullies. Why would he help anyway? Just because he's powerful doesn't mean he's going to help me. Uuuuuu… I should just leave._

Just as the teen was about to get up and make a run for it to recover her self-esteem as well as her sense of mind, Ares stopped her by saying something after staring intently at her in his usual stern manner. "Hmm. You know what, alright, I think there's a few things I can teach you to at least get them off your back for a while; all it requires is a lot of listening and trianing to fend for yourself. Just try not to annoy me, got it?"

Cecilia's expression lit up like a ray of sunshine – bright and difficult to gaze at without looking away, although Ares had to look away because the young teen was utterly excited that she was literally bouncing in front of him like a child that had overdosed on sugar and caffeine. "Really?! You're going to teach me how to defend myself?! You're the best, Mr Ares, the greatest person ever!"

"Okay, okay! Don't go overboard, you're making us get too much attention over 'ere," Ares grumbled as he looked over from Cecilia to the crowd of people over by the park road that had stopped in their tracks to gaze at the overexcited young teen. The looks on their faces were filled with mixed emotions, and Ares guessed that some of them were less than savoury. After a moment, and a deep sigh, the young man stood up and looked down at Cecilia with a firm gaze. "Look, I can help you with teaching you how to deal with bullies and anybody who tries to assault you, but that means you gotta pay attention to whatever I say or do. Now run along back to wherever you live and drop by the Basilicom when you feel like getting a lecture dump or whatever, I've got stuff to take care of."

"Sure thing, master!" Cecilia said in an upbeat manner, her overly excited expression never dying away. However, Ares was feeling very uncomfortable being called 'master'. He never got to tell the cyna haired teen this, though, for she quickly ran off back down the path that led out of the park, only stopping to look back and wave a final goodbye.

The steel-grey haired man sighed in frustration and rubbed his temples, unsure with what to think about with all that had just happened. Learning about Cecilia, the situation with her guardians and lack of friends, her Great Clan heritage and being called 'master' just made the young man feel confused. "Ugh. The fuck am I gonna do with this girl and this goddess damned training I promised her? She's crazy."

"Not as crazy as you, though. And here I thought I had a personality issue," a cold voice called out to Ares from somewhere behind him; it wa filled with malice and reeked of hate. Ares swiftly turned around to see who it was, and he was in for quite a shock. The person who spoke appeared to be a young man, a dangerous one judging from the aura that surrounded them. They were wearing a red hooded jacket, a white shirt with visible as well as questionable splatter spots on it, long black pants and a pair of black boots – all were weather-worn. The strange individual had pale skin, spiky red hair that was mostly concealed by their hoodie save for several red bangs covering the right eye, and red pupiled eyes. They appeared to be quite curvy for a guy. Their expression changed frequently, at first being pissed off when speaking to suddenly becoming a creepy and unsettling grin that hid many things.

The sudden appearance of this strange, creepy young man set Ares' nerves into fear overdrive. The steel-grey haired man jumped back and ignited his Anti-Energy, covering his entire body with the red energy, ready for any attack that would come his way. "Th-The fuck do you want, crazy?! Come near me and I'll burn you to a crisp!"

The redhead was more amused with Ares' aggressively defensive display and walked up to him slowly, taking each stride slowly as their expression widened with glee. "Well aren't you a tough boy. That's so cute~"

"Cute? What the hell? You gay or something?" the steel-grey haired man asked with complete surprise, but never letting his guard down as the redhead continued to advance towards him. The entire scene was making people in the park feel more than a little bit nervous, making them leave the area. Ares noticed this with a couple of sideways glances. _Ah, good. If this gets ugly then there'll be less people to get in my way._

"But of course you're cute; most guys and girls that I see are so adorable that I just want to tie them up in my bed and screw them all day long," the redhead responded as he walked closer and closer to Ares.

As they got too close for the steel-grey haired man's liking he swung his arm back for a second and then suddenly thrust it forth, sending a flaming bolt of Anti-Energy in the redhead's general direction, which was followed by several more from both his hands. What socked the young man most was that the creepy stranger dodged all the attacks, then as their expression formed a sadistic grin the redhead lunged forward, deadly levels of Anti-Energy forming around their fists, ready to tear the shocked Ares asunder – if the redhead did not stop herself for long enough to do to what they said earlier and tie him up in their bed.

Fortunately for the remaining people in the park, and the landscape of the park in general, the fight was short lived due to the stern words of another newcomer. "That will do, France Shellby. Leave him be, we need him alive and in working order, not in complete and utter pain."

The hooded redhead, France Shellby, landed on the ground as their Anti-Energy dissipated into thin air, their gaze swiftly looking over at the source of the voice. "Tch. You're no fun sometimes, Laran."

"Oh trust me, I am fun – you just don't want to admit it while there are others around sometimes," the newcomer, Laran, responded with a cheeky tone as he walked up to France, his gaze falling upon the redhead with a grin on his face. France looked back at Laran with a gaze that read of many feelings, one of which was quite loving. Quickly afterwards Laran turned his gaze over towards Ares, who was staring at him with a wide eyes filled with shock, and what could also be described as fear. Laran took one good look at the steel-grey haired man for a short moment before smiling at him. "Well it sure has been a while hasn't it, Ares?"

Ares could not help but stare at Laran with shock and fear, his mouth quivering while hsi limbs were stiff still. Eventually he glared at the pair before him and growled in an inhuman manner. "You... What the fuck are you doing here?! You come here to bring me back to Project Ares, or even kill me for what happened back at the Colosseum in Planeptune? If that's the case then I'll rip you apart!"

Much to the steel-grey haired man's surprise, Laran laughed at him. "Heh. Well, to be honest I _am_ officially here to kill you and Enyo as well as keeping an eye on Subject 13 while tying up loose ends. It has been difficult to find some of the 'loose ends' that need to be tied up. That's why we're here – for you."

This was completely surprising for Ares to hear, very surprising indeed. However, it looked as if Laran was ready to talk and not to fight; France was quite the opposite as he – or she, considering that Ares was now second guessing France's gender – continued to stare at the steel-grey haired man with a mix between lust and sadism in their gaze. After a moment of thinking to himself, Ares decided that it ws better to hear what they wanted rather than risk an all-out battle that would very well end up with him dead, or worse. He sighed, shook his head and decided to talk, much against his inner enraged subconscious.

"Hmph. What do you two want with me anyway? And why just me? Why not Mars? He's powerful, plus he did almost kill me back at the Colosseum, if you remember seeing the duel. Why would you want to get me back into Project Ares?" Ares asked with curiosity; his tone was wary.

"Project Ares is gone, finshed, over," France Shellby informed the steel-grey haired man, the redhead suddenly becoming more serious than before, which was a mixed blessing for Ares. Regardless, the response surprised him immensely.

"What, it's over? Did some pissed off test subject go rogue and go on a bloody rampage before the entire facility was blown up again? Wouldn't be surprised if that did happen again," the steel-grey haired man asked with a hint of sarcasm in his tone, his expression forming into a grin.

Laran shook his head, then motioned for Ares and France to follow him, which they complied with. The group walked through the dense woodland of the park, seemingly going to wherever Laran was randomly going towards. As they walked, he explained the situation, at least to a degree. "No, that didn't happen this time, fortunately. The old man decided that it was better to end the project and advance to the next stage of the plan to save humankind from its... derailment. The facility is still there, home to the future of this divided world. Thanks to you, Enyo, us two here, some other test subjects and even Subject 13 himself, my grandfather has enough information, statistics, ideas and new methods to advance the next stage of saving this world from the CPUs."

"Save the world from the CPUs? What the actual hell are you talking about? Yeah, I get that they're a bunch of lunatics who wear revealing clothing whenever they transform, and that they can be a bunch of asshole bastards, but what's this got to do with us War Gods and War Goddesses? Was the whole plan to simply kill the CPUs or something?" Ares questioned intensely, his curiosity rising with ever few minutes while listening to Laran; even France seemed to be in the same boat as Ares.

"It's simple, really: Mankind – Redefined. Catchy, isn't it?" Laran began to explain as the group passed by a large tree with thick branches that waved about in their way. After passing the tree the group appeared outside the park, revealing the downtown area of Lastation City.

The group then stopped walking and Laran turned around to stare at Ares, his expression becoming completely serious while his arms became crossed over his chest. "Now then, to what I have to offer you, Subject 1 of the former Project Ares. You are a powerful War God, even if you did get svagely beaten by Subject 13, but admittedly that was because of his dragon power. Therefore, instead of following the old man's order and kill both you and Enyo, I am offering you a position in the New World Order when it finally comes to show its head. Do you accept?"

Ares glanced back and forth between Laran and France, unable to comprehend the offer that was given to him. It was a complete shock for him to hear, and it only made him wary and highly suspicious about Laran and France's motivation. "That's just... crazy. You're both crazy! I still don't fuckin' understand why you'd come to me of all people and offer a place in some sort of order."

Laran and France glanced over at each other for a brief moment before looking back at the former test subject standing before them, now ready to either make a run for it or to fight. "Well then, how about we make an exchange? Knowledge for knowledge. You see, I once had an informant from the upper echelons of the Planeptunian government who kept me informed about important information regarding the CPUs and even Subject 13 whenever he was there; there's no connection between us now, and I've been meaning to head on over to Planeptune to... figure out the issue. So, what do you say to that? You can be my informant here in Lastation and in return we give you some knowledge that you wouldn't get anywhere else."

"And that is?" Ares asked, unsure if he wanted to know what the answer would be. Much to his surprise, the response was not as bad as he thought it would be, instead is was simply unimaginable.

It was France Shellby who gave the answer that chilled the young man's spine as he/she leaned forward, coincidentally showing off that they indeed have a pair of breasts, large breasts indeed that just happened to be wrapped down. "What if I could show you the future?"

"The... future?" was all that Ares could say in disbelief.

France nodded enthusiastically. "That's right, I can show you the future, although it depends on the time of the day, month and year, and if I remember the sequence to do it. Fortunately for you, the time is almost right. Follow me. Both of you."

* * *

"The hell is this place?" Ares asked as the group stopped in front of an old cave, seeing only darkness within it and an uneasy feeling emerging from it. He did not want to enter it first, that was for damn sure. The night sky did not make things any better.

Ares, Laran and France were far to the east of Lastation City, finding themselves in the mountains that dotted most of the eastern coast, where all manner of caves hiding monsters were located for aspiring Guild Agents. It was also the same mountain range where Mars and Uni first met. This time however, instead of hunting monsters or running into goddesses, there was going to be a questionable ritual that could very well show Ares his future.

"This is the location of one of several Way Points that dot Gamindustri's landscape in secluded locations. It's a magical stone pillar that focuses demon energy for a number of different rituals, including telling the future – it only tells of one possible future out of many timelines though, so it may not be entirely accurate in the time to come. Incidentally it was something that the demons, one of the now Lost Clans, created to show off how powerful they were with the old magic. It's a lost art since... since... Well, better to leave that topic for another day," France explained as she glanced inside the cave, grumbling to herself about the level of darkness that was all over the place.

Laran seemed to know some of what France was explaining, although even he was just as confused and interested as Ares was when the redhead refused to go on about what happened to the Demon Clan. This, however, raised another question about France's heritage, one that Ares was too curious about to stop himself from asking. "So... does this mean that you're one of these demons?"

Just before France was about to light the way forward into the cave with a flashlight she fished out of her jacket, she stopped in her tracks and glanced over at the steel-grey haired man, her eyes wide and filled with blood-red energy, her expression forming a snarl. "Only partially. That's all you're getting out of me with that history lesson, cutie. Now shut up."

Once France calmed down slightly she walked forward into the cave, lighting the way to where they were heading towards. Ares glanced over to Laran and noticed how deep in thought he was. However, the steel-grey haired man did not want to know what the sadistic man was thinking about, so chose to not ask of it. Eventually, after nearly ten minutes of walking and sliding open what looked like stone doors camouflaged with the rocky face of the cave, the group finally arrived inside a large room with stalagmites coming downwards from the rocky ceiling, a large natural stone platform rose up from the ground and circled from one end of the room to the other, a stone basin and some sort of large stone slab were off to the left for some sinister purpose, then in the centre was the Way Point that France had spoken of.

It was a long, stone pillar with a jagged top, round base at the bottom and untranslatable words were inscribed into the stone. The words looked more like a mix between imagery, letters, simple lines and crosses, and words. It confused Ares, but he had little time to figure it out as France walked up to him and stared sternly at him. "Touch the stone pillar when I put some of my blood into the stone basin. We have to be quick about this though, time is nearly up. Do what I say when I say it, got it? Otherwise it'll be bondage time."

"I got it! I got it!" Ares exclaimed loudly not wanting to know what 'bondage time' even entailed in France's deluded and completely batshit insane mind. He walked over to the stone pillar and watched as France and Laran walked up to the basin, whereupon the redhead pulled out a knife and slit the palm of her left hand, letting the blood drip into the basin below. She did not seem to be in pain, which was quite remarkable, given that the blade had a serrated edge to it, not to mention that there was stil la lot of blood coming out of the wound. Soon after the pillar began to glow bright in a mix between black and red, lighting up for a few secodns before dying away, then repeating itself every couple of seconds.

"Touch it," France demanded to Ares, which he complied with only a second of hesitation. Suddenly, once he touched it the Way Point began to glow brighter than ever, blinding all in the room. A sudden jolt of pain entered Ares's body, then there was another jolt of pain, followed by several more until one final burst exploded in the young man's mind, whereupon he let out an almighty cry that echoed throughout the entire cave.

What came next felt like some sort of delusion. Ares opened his eyes to see only dark grey clouds surrounding him, constantly moving around him as soundless lightning blasted from area to area, voices called out from the darkness – voices that Ares had either forgotten or had not heard for a long time. Some of the voices, a mix between men and women, old and young, called out "You're an utter failure, Sosruth", "Why don't you run to your momma and cry like a baby, eh?", "The hell is wrong with you?!", "Learn to fight for yourself, son, as your mother does", "W-Well, it's just… um, are you insane?", "Some brother you are", "Welcome to Project Ares, young lad", "I've become more powerful than any War God before me!", "Free yourself!".

They were voices from his past, both long ago and recent. Ares, barely unable to cope with hearing all of the voices speaking in his mind, repeating themselves over and over again as images of his unhappy childhood, his abusive time in Project Ares and his subsequent failure in the Colosseum, flashed before his eyes. "No. No... Stop. Make it stop!" Ares cried out, already pained from the experience inflicted upon him in the name of knowledge. Yet his ordeal had only just begun.

The voices soon disappeared, as did the images, only to be replaced with what Ares had been promised. He soon wished he had not taken up the offer. The first image that flashed before him was one that looked like Mars dressed in something mixed between riot gear and casual clothing, bloodied and torn up, staring down at Ares with a disappointed glare as he stood in a metallic corridor before something from the ceiling collapsed into his vision. The next that appeared was some people that looked like they belonged in the Guild getting ripped apart by what looked like Anti-Energy; voices called out "No, nooooooooooooo!". It quickly passed, leaving a sickening feeling in the young man's stomach.

The next to appear was the most confusing. The clouds parted away to reveal a strange hooded man wearing what looked like some sort of old cloak and old world clothing from a different era standing in front of the young man, extending an arm towards him as an odd smile grew upon his face. He seemed to be otherworldly, unnatural, dangerous, yet charming in some peculiar way. As the image almost disappeared, the strange man spoke "Out future awaits".

Once it was gone, the pain returned, this time multiplied. The voices returned, this time in pain and anguish. Images of what looked like some sort of small palace surrounded by a town or city burned in the night as the cries of men, women and children ran through the vision and into the steel-grey haired man's mind; strange creatures rampaged through the city on a slaughter path, smoke rose into the air. Suddenly it moved over to several kids huddling together, their expressions filled with fear as they stared up at Ares, when suddenly a blade encased in blood-red energy appeared.

"Nooooo! Stop this madness!" Ares exclaimed in a pained tone, his hands rubbing his face.

The clouds covered the images and the voices died away, yet they lived on within the oyung man's mind. He grunted and glanced over behind him, where he saw something he thought would never happen. Standing before him was Enyo, but she was in obvious pain and gasping for air, blood was dripping down her mouth. "Ares... Please... Please. I... I...!" she whispered while gasping for air, a hand outstretched towards where Ares was. He was dumbfounded, unsure what was happening to her, but he felt it had something to do with him, which made him feel all the more worse. The young man suddenly heard to clashing of steel against steel behind him, making him swiftly look back to see what was going on.

What he saw surprised him. He witnessed an image of himself fighting Mars on some sort of metallic platform surrounded by lava, their glaive and axe clashing and slashing at each other, a look of determination was upon his face, which surprisingly had beard growth. As the two exploded in a fury of complex aggressive and defensive strikes as Anti-Energy and Dragon Fire burst all over the place, blinding Ares from seeing any more of the vision. "Gah! The fuck is happening to me?!" Ares grunted as he rubbed his forehead in an attempt to massage the pain away. It was a complete failure.

The pain suddenly increased to exponential levels, not only just in his head but also throughout his arms, legs, organs and just everywhere throughout his body. He was in a complete state of pain. It was too unbearable to deal withy. As the young man yelled in agony he looked up to see Mars again, this time standing on what looked like burnt dirt, his clothes had some small burnt holes in them, his axe was bloodied and some sort of crystal was in his left hand. "You were my brother, Ares!" Mars exclaimed in the young man's direction, when the image disappeared back into the clouds.

A dozen more vision appeared, ranging from a throne room with some woman with dark blue hair siting on a throne to savage slaughter to even a duel with some young woman with violet eyes in a large room being razed to the ground from within, all being showed to Ares as a deep, unnatural breathing noise ran through his ears. Finally the young man could not take it any longer. "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Ares cried out as he collapsed to his knees. It was then that the vision finally ended as the clouds disappeared out of sight, revealing the large cave and the stone pillar in front of him.

Standing nearby were Laran and France, the latter seemed to be out of energy and paler than before. Nevertheless, she managed to gather the energy to speak to the fallen Ares. "Sure looks like you've seen a lot of shit, judging from all the yelling we heard."

Ares panted deeply for air as he glanced over at the redhead, his eyes wide and twitchy. "What... the fuck. I-I-I saw... horrible things. Horrible things. It's like I was betrayed at first, then I go nuts and shit starts going downhill from there."

"Yeah, I figured that would be the case. Just remember that this type of demon magic only shows one possible future out of dozens, if not hundreds, of timelines; some might come true while others might not. What you saw might not happen," France said as she leaned up against Laran, feeling almost too tired to do anything else, yet she managed to continue on. "Well you got the knowledge we promised you, so you going to be Laran's informant in Lastation?"

"I... I, well, whatever. Look, just leave me alone and you'll get what info you want. Just... don't offer me any more visions and claiming that it's 'knowledge', got it?" Ares responded in a shaky manner as he stood up, almost falling over on the first attempt. He shook his head and rubbed his forehead, still unable to comprehend the demon magic that he partook in and the visions he saw, if they actually were visions of his future and not just a possible timeline. It was something to think over, or at the very least something to try and forget. What could not get past him was that he was, possibly, an informant for Laran – that was something to really think about. "Look, I have to... ugh... I have to go now. Just leave me alone. I... I have to figure out what all this means."

"We'll see about that, Ares," Laran responded with a smile that made Ares feel uncomfortable, even as he walked unsteadily away back into the cave, using his Anti-Energy as a source of light to guide his way back to Lastation City. The sadistic young man eyed the steel-grey haired War God until he was gone, then he looked down at France, who had now fallen unconscious in his arms, her head resting against his chest. The young man sighed and patted her head affectionately. "Veliza, we have him. Ares is ours now."

* * *

 **A/N: Hey there readers, it has sure been a while, over four months I think. This particular chapter has taken me over two months to complete, mainly due to a lot of issues that still plague me right at the moment - writer's block, education, a lack for doing anything, you name it. Uploading time is something I'd rather not address, for obvious reasons that I've just stated. Originally this wasn't going to be a chapter, but after two months of slowly getting to work with what is now chapter 32, I decided it was time to show something with Ares and what may or may not be his future. Yeah, I was watching Star Wars: The Clone Wars when I wrote the scene that had the vision, if you didn't get the reference already.  
**

 **Now then, I do apologise for this being a very long chapter - quality of quantity here with me at this point. I also apologise for the amount of swearing in this chapter, but most of the characters in it were demented. Thank you all for reading and I hope you look forward, with a _lot_ of patience, for the next chapter.**


End file.
